Man's Best Friend
by QuirkQuirk
Summary: Adopting a new pet is always an undertaking, but when Roxas picks up a stray dog one seemingly normal summer day, he gets himself into a lot more than he bargained for... AU AxelRoxas COMPLETE
1. Can I Keep Him?

**Author's Notes:** Ho man. So. I read this manga, right? "Man's Best Friend (Inu Mo Arukeba)" by Kazusa Takashima? Um, yeah. Pretty much the most ME manga ever of all time. It's about a boy who finds this dog and – SURPRISE! – it turns out the dog can turn into a human and molest the heck out of him. I approve. I'm not a furry, I'm really not. But the concept was just oh-so-appealing to me! I love dogs. I love yaoi. If the two can mix together without crossing the line into bestiality, I'm SO down for it! XD Anyways, have been working on this story for… oh gosh, months and months and months. It's been slow going, but finally it is FINISHED! I originally intended it to be a oneshot, but it evolved into one LONG mofo, so I am cutting it into three parts.

**The disclaimer! **I don't own Axel or Roxas, or anything else Kingdom Hearts related. I don't really even fully own the plot to this story either, seeing as it's based off a manga I read. I just altered it a bit and got it down in fanfiction form. All I really own is my dog, and like hell you're getting your filthy paws on ownership of her. XD But so yeah… don't sue me, please.

**Pairings: **Axel/Roxas or AkuRoku, whichever you wish to call it. All amounts to the same thing.

**Summary:** Adopting a new pet is always an undertaking, but when Roxas picks up a stray dog one seemingly normal summer day, he gets himself into a lot more than he bargained for. AU Axel/Roxas

**Warnings:** Eventual Yaoi/BoyxBoy situations, so if you're not down with that, this story definitely isn't down with you. XD Overall strangeness runs rampant throughout. And I suppose this could be considered a tiddly-tad yiffy… But no furry themes are really intended, so yeah. Just puttin' it out there.

**Other stuff: **Just in case anyone else is a dork like me and wants to know the breed of dog featured prominently in this story… he's a red merle Border Collie mix of some sort. XD Just so ya know.

**.o.O.o.**

**Man's Best Friend**

(Inu Mo Arukeba)

**.o.O.o.**

Walking back home one sunny day after a set of long work hours, Roxas made his way down the street, shoving his way through the crowd and wanting nothing more than to just get home and crash on his couch, flip on the television and rot his brain with mindless cartoons. It had been a long day at his summer job, people coming and going and demanding service without so much as a parting 'thank you' in return. Roxas wasn't too fond of his job, to say the least, but he really had no choice in the matter – his parents were gone all summer on some sort of business trip or whatever, and he needed some way to earn himself money for food and other such necessities while he was home alone.

Stopping at a street corner as the 'Don't Walk' signal flashed, Roxas looked to the side, trying to find something interesting to look at while he waited for this endless red light to turn green once again so that he could cross the street. And his eyes were not disappointed as they settled on the furry form of some sort of animal (_'A dog?'_ Roxas guessed, looking closely. _'Yeah, that looks like a dog._') lying off to the side of the sidewalk, being completely ignored by everyone who passed by. The rusty red and white fur was tangled and slightly matted, leading Roxas to believe the dog was a street mutt, and probably an injured one at that, judging by the way it was just laying there in the middle everything; normally a street dog like this would run away with its tail between its legs if it ever got caught in the midst of so many people.

Suddenly the light turned green and the mass of people waiting to cross the street surged forward. Roxas turned his attention back to the road, taking one step forward before pausing and looking back. The dog was still just… _laying_ there. He knew it was none of his business and that he shouldn't get involved other than to maybe call the pound, but for some reason Roxas found himself turning away from the street and walking off in the opposite direction.

Roxas had never been much of an 'animal person', but even he couldn't help but feel sorry for the scrawny, half-starved and left for dead dog that was sprawled out on the sidewalk in front of him. The ruffed and matted fur, coupled with various tears in the ears and patches of missing fur clearly confirmed the blonde's beliefs that it was a stray. Nevertheless, Roxas looked from side to side to see if there was some sort of an owner anywhere nearby, but finding none he carefully approached the animal, a little wary because of all the programs he had seen on the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet where tricky beasts only _pretended_ to be injured to lure in their prey.

"Uh… hey girl?" Roxas called out from a few feet away, crouching down and making little chirruping noises at the dog to attract it's attention. "You alive?" The dog made no movement, however, and Roxas began to worry that it may _not_, in fact, be alive.

Scooting a little closer, Roxas found that the animal was breathing a little, and he reached out, placing a gentle hand on it's side and patting the mottled red and white fur. "Hey there girl…" He whispered, starting to feel extremely bad for the poor thing, despite his better judgment. ' _Don't get attached!'_ He had been told, growing up. '_All animals will ever do is run away or die on you. And shed all over your nice furniture.'_

However, Roxas had no nice furniture of his own to worry about, and he was worried that if he didn't do something to help this poor animal that it would be left to die out on the cold, heartless streets like the stray it was.

Looking it over for any injuries and finding none, he scooped the creature up into his arms. Whoofa, it smelled like wet dog. …Which wasn't very surprising, actually. It wasn't very heavy despite the fact that it was a good sized dog – it reminded Roxas of the limber herding dogs he'd seen in an agility contest one time at a park. Heading back over to the street corner, Roxas patiently waited for the light to turn green again, adjusting the dog more comfortably in his arms and ignoring the rude and questioning looks other pedestrians were sending his way.

**.x.X.x.**

Squirming uncomfortably, Axel weakly fidgeted around, not knowing what was holding him captive. The last thing he could remember was waiting near a street corner to catch a glimpse of the cute blonde boy he saw walking to and from work every day. He didn't really have anything better to do, really – life as a street dog provided limited opportunities for a wide range of activities to participate in. He spent most of his days chasing cats down alleyways and rooting around in garbage cans for his daily meals. That, along with keeping out of the way of dog catchers and other unfriendly humans, was pretty much it. Well, until a few weeks ago when he had been in the middle of sniffing out a nice fat rat and he had spotted the blonde crossing the street, heading right towards him.

Now normally Axel didn't pay any special attention to humans unless they were aiming a kick at him, or doing something that involved food. However, with the appearance of said blonde human, Axel was forced to re-evaluate his entire look on the species. Anything that could produce something this perfect and wonderfully, adorably _cute_ couldn't be all bad.

As the blonde had passed by that day, Axel had taken a tentative sniff from his hiding place behind a conveniently placed sidewalk planter-box. And boy, did that cute little blonde human smell _good!_ Like fabric softener and shampoo and… ice cream. (Axel was hungry. He hadn't eaten yet that day.) He was young and slightly pouty and Axel wanted nothing more than to run right over there to him, knock him flat on the ground, and lick his face. Of course he _didn't_, but he sure wanted to. Even Axel realized that this course of action – while accepted as playful and cute from a household pet – would most certainly be met with anger and possible violence if attempted by a random, dirty dog on the street.

All too soon the blonde had passed him by, and Axel was left with a feeling of… emptiness. Whining quietly to himself as he watched the blonde walk away, Axel looked after him until the human turned a corner, at which point he trotted off to continue his quest for a meal. However, every day after that he would wait for the cute blonde human, watching as he walked past Axel's hiding spot as he went to and from work every day except for the weekends. Axel had never been very fond of the weekends; the weekends meant more people running about the town and making it harder for him to get around unnoticed, and now the weekends meant no cute little blonde boy.

That Sunday Axel had stayed up all night thinking about that blonde human boy, and how much he loved him and wished he could be a human too, just for the fact that he could then be with that blonde boy and tell him he loved him and they could spend the rest of their lives together.

But Axel was a dog. Not just a dog, but a _stray_ dog, the lowest of the low. There was no way that human boy would ever love Axel the way Axel loved _him._ Not as a dog.

So Axel prayed to any and every god he could think of that might care to listen to a little dog's prayers that one day he could be a human too, so that the cute blonde human boy would fall in love with him too.

The next morning Axel waited patiently for the little blonde human boy to walk past him on his way to work, hiding out behind the same planter as he had been hiding behind the first time he saw him. He waited and waited and waited and waited and… was it just him or was hotter than usual out today? He probably ought to go drink out of a fountain or something… but no! He _had_ to wait to see the blonde human boy! So he waited some more and… wow, he was feeling a little lightheaded… In fact, he really wasn't sure how much longer he could even stand up…. Maybe it would be better if he just slowly laid down and…

And that was the last thing Axel could remember. Now he found himself being… held? And… carried somewhere? It certainly seemed like it. But who on earth would bother to _hold_ him? Unless… Oh no! Trying to look at who it might be, he found that the way he was being held, all he could see was the sidewalk passing slowly by. Oh no, oh no, oh no… Axel renewed his struggles tenfold, weakly writhing in his captive hold, suddenly desperate to get away. The dog catchers had gotten him and they were taking him away to the Bad Place and he was never going to be free again, or maybe even _alive_ again and…

"Hey, stop moving around or I'm gonna drop you."

Wait… wait, Axel _knew_ that voice… Swiveling his head around as much as he could, given his position, Axel suddenly found himself looking up into a pair of the clearest blue eyes he had ever seen, on a young human boy who looked _very_ familiar.

"Heh, so you _are_ alive." The blonde chuckled. "I was starting to wonder there, for a while."

_'Oh. My. GOD!'_

He was being carried by the blonde human boy… The same blonde human boy he'd be watching for the past couple weeks, the same blonde human boy who he had fallen in love with, the same blonde human boy who he had prayed to the gods for, the same blonde human boy who –

"My name's Roxas…."

ROXAS! The blonde human boy had a _name_! Axel was on the verge of wetting himself in his excitement. Or passing out again. Or _something._

"…and I'm going to be taking you home with me to get you cleaned up, okay?"

Home… he was being taken to the kid's _home._ Squirming again, but this time to turn himself over so that he could better admire the love-of-his-life-turned savior, Axel wagged his tail frantically and whined rather annoyingly, having no other way to convey his absolutely _ecstatic_ state. He was feeling lightheaded again, but this time in the good sense. His entire body was tingling and… whoa… okay, that was some extremely intense tingling there for a second… Like as if his body was trying to crawl off of him in it's excitement or something… weird.

In the momentary distraction of trying to figure out what had been going on, Axel had calmed down somewhat and stopped wiggling around, allowing Roxas to more easily hold on to him. The rest of the short journey to Roxas's home passed with little incidence, as Axel was content to simply stare up at Roxas and drool, and Roxas was content to simply continue carting the dog around, oblivious to it's odd behaviour.

Eventually they arrived at Roxas's front porch and Roxas tried awkwardly shifting the dog to his hip in order to fish his keys out of his pocket, but discovered it was rather impossible to do so. "Hey girl, I'm gonna have to set you down for a second, okay? Don't run away."

Vaguely, Axel registered that Roxas had just called him a girl, but found that he really didn't care at the moment. Roxas could think he was a three-headed alien hermaphrodite for all Axel cared, as long as it would get him in the boy's house. And 'Don't run away'? What did this kid take him for? The only place Axel was going to be running was _inside_ the house, not away from it.

Carefully placing Axel down on the porch and suspiciously looking at the dog as if he still suspected 'her' to run off, Roxas shoved a hand in his pocket ( _'His hand is in his pants! ROXAS'S HAND IS IN HIS PANTS!'_ Axel's mind shouted.), grabbing his keys and thrusting them in the door-lock. Looking back down, Roxas found the dog looking right back up at him, a doggish smile nearly splitting his face in half as he weakly attempted to wag his tail, wobbling a little on unsteady legs.

"I bet you're pretty exhausted." Roxas surmised, pulling the keys out of the lock and turning the doorknob. "You were passed out when I found you, you're probably hungry and tired. I'll see what I can dig up for you."

_'Pinch me, I'm dreaming'_ Axel thought in a near swoon as Roxas picked him back up, kicking the door shut behind him and heading for what looked like the kitchen. _'I'm in his house, he's carrying me to FOOD.' _

Setting Axel down again, Roxas rummaged around in some cupboards, eventually dragging a beat up mixing bowl out, which he placed on the floor. "Don't tell Mom that's I'm using this to feed you in." he commented, more to himself than Axel. "She'd have a fit if she knew."

_'Breaking the rules for me – You rogue!'_ Axel endearingly chastised in his mind as Roxas pulled the refrigerator open and looked through it's contents, trying to figure out what to feed a dog. Eventually settling on some sandwich meat, he tossed the packet on the counter, and Axel eyed it hungrily. Roxas moved the cupboards next, pulling out a box of cereal, dry noodles and some goldfish crackers. Dumping the assortment of foods into the bowl, the blonde nudged it towards Axel, grinning sheepishly.

"Uh… there you go… I don't really know what dogs eat, and I haven't really gone shopping for a while so…"

But Axel was already devouring the disgustingly delicious mixed meal his love had oh-so-generously prepared for him, snarfing it down as if he hadn't had a decent meal in days… Which he hadn't, actually. Moving to the sink, Roxas filled up a pan with some water and set it next to Axel's mixing-bowl-turned-dog-dish, curiously watching Axel practically inhale the food like some dog/vacuum cleaner hybrid.

Roxas found that it was kind of nice watching the animal messily digging into the food he had put together, bowl clattering all over the floor with the force of the lunges Axel was taking at it… it made him feel like he had done something good, something that someone else appreciated. It was a satisfying kind of feeling, and he rather liked it. Vaguely he wondered if this was where the phrase "You can't help others without helping yourself!" had come from… Well, it probably wasn't derived from a situation _exactly_ like this, that would be a bit weird… but something to the same effect.

With a contented sigh, Axel finished his meal, stomach full and heart nearly bursting with happiness. This had to be the best day ever in the history of best days ever. For dogs, at least. Gazing up at his blonde hero, Axel sat back on his haunches, wondering what was going to happen next. Heck, Roxas could even toss him back out on the street now, and he would still consider this the best day ever.

"You all done?" Roxas asked, rather rhetorically, as he picked up the bowls and rinsed them out in the sink. Axel happily thumped his tail against the floor in reply. "Okay then, I guess I ought to give you a bath."

In an instant Axel's tail stopped thumping and his doggy face stopped smiling as his brain registered the word that was on the top ten list of worst words for dogs, ranking right up there with "vet" and "fixed". His entire body tensing, Axel attempted to make a spectacular break for freedom, only to suddenly find himself pinned to the ground, Roxas having launched himself on top of him, using his weight to keep Axel in place. Axel would have found it extremely sexy if his mind hadn't been in such a state of blind panic. Still attempting tot struggle away, he suddenly found himself feeling very light headed again – curse his body's weakened state! – and the next thing he knew was all encompassing blackness.

**.x.X.x.**

"Hey… wake up… come on girl, wake up…"

Axel's eyes blinked open, only to be staring straight into the face of his dearly beloved, who was crouched over and observing him intently.

"Hey, you're alive!" the boy joked as he pulled back to a kneeling position. "But I guess that's just too bad for you, huh? Cause now I'm gonna have to give you your B–A–T–H."

At that moment Axel had no idea what a 'B–A–T–H' was, and frankly, he really didn't care. Because kneeling right before him was an almost completely naked Roxas. The teen had stripped down to just his boxers for some reason, and was enticingly beckoning Axel forward with an outstretched hand. _'I have no idea what's going on…'_ Axel thought in a daze _'But I LIKE it!'_

"That's it, girl…" Roxas was saying reassuringly as Axel took a few cautious steps forward. "That's right, c'mere… I'm not gonna hurt you… Just a _little_ closer…"

He must have died, Axel figured. He must have died and gone to the Good Place, because Roxas was practically naked and had adopted a 'come hither' look and was entreating him to come closer, not that Axel needed too much enticing. He was more than happy to move further into this room, wherever they were, if it meant being closer to the object of his desire. Oh happy day! All those times he had refrained from biting mailmen and peeing on people's expensive pant legs had finally paid off! He was going to spend the rest of his life in Heaven with Roxas and live happily ever and –

"HA!"

With a violent lunge, Roxas surged forward, grabbing Axel into his arms and dropping him unceremoniously into a bathtub filled nearly to the rim with soapy water. Yelping, Axel attempted to struggle out of it, his fantasies coming to an screeching halt as he tried to comprehend what was going on, failing in his escape attempts as Roxas followed in after him, grabbing him around the middle and refusing to let him get away. Axel didn't understand what had gone wrong... One moment he had been in Roxas Paradise, and the next…

OOOHHHHHHHHHH... 'B–A–T–H.'_ Baaaaaaaaath._ Suddenly everything made a lot more sense.

Squirming and whimpering pathetically as Roxas started to lather up his fur, Axel felt a little betrayed. But as he looked up at his sneaky temptress of bath-enducingness, the betrayal suddenly started to disappear. Roxas. Practically naked. Soaking wet and lathering him up. Actually, on second thought, this wasn't so bad. In fact, apart from the whole 'water' thing, it was actually rather pleasing.

Roxas discontinued his ministrations for a moment when a low growling sound started emanating from the dog he was currently in the tub with. "Um… girl? Are you alright? Calm down, okay?" He said, interpreting the growling sounds as ones of displeasure. "I'm not gonna hurt you… I just want to make you clean…"

Axel nudged his body back into Roxas's hands, urging the blonde to continue. Slightly confused, Roxas complied, rubbing firmly into Axel's fur, trying to get all the grime out. The weird growling continued, however, but as Axel showed no signs of aggression, Roxas figured it was safe to continue for the moment.

_'This feels great!'_ Axel's mind shouted happily as he continued his version of "purring". Roxas's hands kneaded into him, sending little sparks of pleasure and excitement racing through him. _'No, this feels more than great – this feels AMAZING!'_ The sparks were turning into tingles, jolts, and ripples of sensation that threatened to consume him. _'In fact, I think this is the greatest I have ever felt in my whole life! Roxas is touching me and he's almost naked and it smells good in here and I'm getting clean and thisissoexciting,Icanhardlycontainmyself!Ohmigod!Ohmigod!OHMI –' _

Suddenly, with a strange, tingly popping sound, something was very… different. Axel couldn't quite place it, but something was definitely really weird. And the touching had stopped – why had the touching stopped?

Turning around, Axel sent a quizzical look to Roxas, only to find that the boy was sitting absolutely still, seemingly frozen and with a completely shocked look on his face – his eyes were as wide as saucers and his mouth hung wide open. Axel would have found it ridiculously cute if he wasn't so busy wondering what had brought it about.

"What?" he asked.

With an expression suddenly mirroring Roxas's Axel clamped his hands – HANDS! – to his mouth. What the hell was going on? Had he just _spoken?_ As in… _people talk? _And the last time he checked he had _paws_, not…

"Human!" he yelped happily, and saw Roxas twitch in surprise at his sudden outburst, the blonde sill wearing that shocked expression on his face, as if it had gotten stuck. Laughing joyfully, Axel launched himself at Roxas, throwing his arms around the smaller male and pulling him into a slippery and wet embrace, having forgotten for the moment that they were still in a bathtub.

"Wh-what the hell!?" Roxas suddenly burst, having snapped out of his shock. Struggling out of Axel's grip he floundered back, grabbing a nearby towel to cover himself with. "Who are you!? W-what happened to the dog!?"

"I wished and wished and wished, and finally my wish has come true!" Axel replied, not really answering Roxas's question. "Axel is human now! Now Roxas can love Axel just like Axel loves Roxas and they can live together forever and ever for the rest of their lives!"

"What are you talking about, you freak!?" Roxas stuttered back, slipping and falling to the floor as he attempted to get out of the tub and away from the guy who had just suddenly appeared in place of the dog he had been washing. "Who the hell is Axel?"

"ME!" Axel proclaimed happily, climbing unsteadily over the edge of the tub and flopping down on Roxas. "Axel is me! And I love you!"

"GET OFF OF ME, YOU FREAK! WHO ARE YOU?"

"Axel!"

"WHAT? GAH, I DON'T _KNOW_ YOU! ALL I KNOW IS I BROUGHT HOME A DOG AND WAS GIVING IT A BATH AND THEN SUDDENLY _YOU_ CAME OUT OF NOWHERE! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?"

"Roxas doesn't like Axel?" Came the suddenly tentative sounding reply. Roxas looked up to see a very pathetic looking puppy face on the male before him – Axel looked like he would like nothing more to crawl off on his belly in shame. "Roxas... doesn't want Axel here?"

Suddenly Roxas found himself looking back at the same fuzzy dog face that he had brought home earlier that afternoon. Wait… what? He could have sworn that … Wasn't there just some random guy in here a second ago? Was he going crazy?

"Well that was freakily random." Roxas said to himself, standing and brushing himself off. Looking down, he saw that the dog was still sitting on the floor rather dejectedly, looking as if it were sulking about something. "Hey girl, come on." Roxas said, deciding to just write off the prior experience as some trippy mind game of some sort. He was gonna have to start laying off all that junk food – that stuff could really mess you up. "Let's get that bath finished."

**.x.X.x.**

For the rest of the evening Roxas hung around the house, trying to make his canine companion feel at home. However, it seemed that despite his attempts, all the dog wanted to do was sit at the door and whine, almost as if it desired was to go back out to the streets.

"No way, dog." Roxas said, after the fifth time dragging the animal away from the door and back into the living room with him. "You're stuck in here. I'm not letting you back out there to get hit by a car or attacked by wild animals or kicked by some hobo or whatever it is that happens out there at night."

Axel perked up a little at this. Was it possible that Roxas actually cared about him then? Roxas didn't want anything bad happening to him out there in the cold, cruel world?

After that the dog's mood was slightly improved. He was content to simply follow Roxas around as he wandered around the house, fixing himself dinner and messing around on the computer. Roxas even offered him some of the hot dog and French fries he had fixed for dinner.

Eventually Roxas settled down for the evening, flopping down on the couch and grabbing the remote, flipping the television on. Axel hesitated, at the end of the couch, not knowing if he was allowed up on the couch or not, regardless of the bath he had been given earlier. Roxas, seeing the dog's hesitation, paused in his channel changing for a second, seeming to think something over before coming to a conclusion. Eventually he patted the space beside him and offered Axel a friendly smile.

"Come on, girl, you can come up here. I cleaned you earlier, and I don't think you had fleas or anything."

Axel, smiling a doggie smile, lept up onto the couch, settling himself down beside the blonde and making a mental note not to scratch himself in front of Roxas, lest it should cause the boy to re-evaluate the dog's flea status and forbid him from getting up on the couch. It was a quite comfortable piece of furniture, and besides, Roxas was on it – two very important reasons as to why Axel didn't want his couch privileges revoked.

After watching Axel settle himself comfortably on the couch, Roxas turned his attention back to the TV, flipping through the channels at the same speed all teenage boys were accustomed to – faster than the naked eye could comprehend. And yet somehow amongst all the garbled, split-second flashes of programs, the blonde was eventually able to pick out one that suited his tastes, setting the remote down at his side and zoning out as he watched the images of the featured show flickering across the screen, illuminating the otherwise darkened room.

Sighing, Axel looked away from the television with disinterest. He had never really understood what humans gained from staring at that stupid glowing box all day. It held nothing of interest for him, and so he let his gaze wander, eventually settling it on Roxas's face, illuminated from the television's glow. Occasionally Roxas would laugh, or furrow his brows in confusion at whatever was happening on the screen, and Axel watched every expression intently. The small blonde boy was, without a doubt, the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Not that he had seen too many beautiful creatures, living on the streets and all, but he somehow knew that Roxas was the only beautiful thing he needed in his life. Hopefully the blonde would let him stay for longer than just the night – after this afternoon he didn't know how he would deal with being back out on the streets… it wasn't as though he would have lost his street-smarts in this short amount of time as a house dog, it would just be hard going back to that life now that he knew what he would be missing out on.

Tentatively scotching forward a little bit, Axel dared to rest his head in Roxas's lap. Hey, might as well live it up while he had the chance, right? If this was ever going to be the only day he had to spend with Roxas, he might as well make the most of it. Flinching as Roxas's hand came up, thinking he was going to be hit for soiling the blonde's precious lap, or bursting Roxas's 'personal bubble', Axel was pleasantly surprised to find that when the hand came back down it wasn't to hit him, but to gently be placed in top of his head, smoothing over the fur and giving him a quick scratch behind the ears.

It was official. This really _was_ the best day ever. Roxas had just _pet_ him. Axel had to summon all the willpower he possessed to not melt into a happy puddle of goo right then and there.

As time passed that evening, Axel had to fight to stay awake. The warmth of being inside as well as the gentle petting Roxas was lavishing on him was threatening to lull him to sleep. But he just _couldn't _go to sleep! If he went to sleep he might wake up to find that this had all been a dream! No, he had to squeeze in all the possible awake time he could manage, even if it killed him! Must… stay… awake… with… Roxas…

"I'm getting kind of tired." Roxas suddenly announced through a yawn as he stood up and stretched, heading off in the direction of some stairs. "Come on, girl, let's head to bed."

_'LET'S'?_ Had Axel heard a _'let's'_ in that sentence? As in _both of them?_ In _bed_? _TOGETHER_? All of a sudden Axel's opinions on staying awake took a drastic change in direction. In fact, right now going to sleep sounded like the best idea in the history of the world! What on EARTH could be better than going to bed?

With a happy yelp Axel jumped off the couch and raced up the stairs two at a time, following after Roxas. The blonde led them down a short hall, at the end of which was his bedroom, as marked by the "ROXAS'S ROOM: DO NOT ENTER" sign taped up on it. Pfft. As if Axel was planning on obeying _that_ order. When Roxas pushed his door open and Axel eagerly bounded inside, running around and investigating every last nick and cranny that he could sniff out, tail wagging furiously the whole time.

"You like my room?" the blonde questioned with a chuckle, kicking the door closed behind him. Axel paused in his inventory of Roxas's room to turn back and bark once, declaring his approval. Heck, Roxas's room could have been a box out on the street and he still would have been thrilled to visit it! "Haha, glad to hear it." Roxas replied, grabbing the hem of his shirt and tugging it up.

Suddenly Axel froze, watching as Roxas pulled his shirt up and over his head. GOOD LORD, THE BOY WAS STRIPPING! RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM! That's it – he _MUST_ have died. Only in Axel heaven could something like this _actually_ happen. Or maybe he was dreaming? For all that is good and holy, if it was a dream Axel prayed that he would never wake up. Inch by inch more of Roxas's smooth, creamy skin was being revealed and – THERE REALLY IS A GOD! – Roxas was getting caught in his shirt, squirming around in the trapping article of clothing, making _unbearably_ sexy little noises of frustration as he struggled… And then the shirt was being cast aside as Roxas broke free, his hair even more disheveled than normal from getting tangled in his shirt. Overall, the blonde was looking thoroughly molestable, with his hair all mussed and his lips all pouty, pants hanging loosely off his hips, and his bare chest just… _THERE_ for Axel to look at and admire and –

"What?"

Axel abruptly snapped out of his trance to focus his attention back on Roxas's face. As opposed to… ahem… _other_ aspects of his anatomy. Feigning an innocently puzzled look, Axel tilted his cute doggy head to the side, as if to inquire 'What? Me? _I_ wasn't doing or thinking anything inappropriate. You've got the wrong dog!'

Still not fully convinced, Roxas sent the canine a suspicious glare before shrugging and going back to getting undressed, much to Axel's pleasure. _'Thaaaaaaat's right… off with the pants, pretty boy… good… keep going… just a little more… For crying out loud, why are there so many buckles and zippers on sexy blonde boys's pants these days? Oh! Wait! There you go – almost got it! YES! Pants are officially unbuckled, unzipped, unbuttoned, and overall fully undone!' _Fireworks were going off in Axel's brain at the mere thought.

With a sudden 'fwump' and a jingle of buckles, Roxas's pants dropped to the ground, leaving the boy clad in only his stars-and-heart-print boxers. "Don't laugh…" He instructed with a pout as he caught Axel staring at them with an odd expression oh his face. However, Axel was far from laughing. More like going braindead from overstimulation of his imagination. Roxas…. standing right in front of him in his boxers… which were just _barely_ clinging to said blonde boy's skinny hips... If dogs could nosebleed, Axel was sure he would have died from blood loss by now.

"Hey, you alright?" All at once Roxas was crouching down in front of Axel, ruffing the top of his reddish, furry head before pulling back his sheets and climbing into his bed. "Cause you're acting pretty strange, girl…"

ROXAS WAS TOUCHING HIM AND HE WAS ALMOST NAKED AND THEY WERE IN HIS ROOM AND HE WAS _RIGHT THERE_ IN FRONT OF HIM _IN **BED** _AND… AND… AND… GYAAAAAH!!!!

With a sudden, tingling poof, Axel suddenly found himself in human from again, and it only took him about .0013823712798124 seconds to launch himself forward and onto Roxas's bed, pinning the blonde beneath him as he proceeded to nuzzle affectionately under Roxas's neck.

"Roxas is the nicest, sexiest, most _amazing_ human there is!" Axel proclaimed, attempting to sneak a hand under the covers and reach more of Roxas's bare skin.

"AAAAAAAAAAARGH!! _YOU_ AGAIN! GET OUT OF MY BED!" came the response as Roxas flailed wildly beneath Axel, only succeeding in getting himself extremely tangled in the sheets. "WHO _ARE_ YOU?"

"Axel!"

"You said that earlier!" Roxas shot back. "But it still doesn't make any sense! What the hell is going on? Why do you keep appearing out of nowhere? And _where the hell is that dog _!?"

"Axel _is_ that dog!" Axel helpfully supplied, giving Roxas's collarbone a playful nip.

"OW! Hey, cut that out!" Roxas snapped. "And what do you mean you _are_ that dog? That dog is… is… is a _DOG_! A dog that I found on the street and brought home of my own choice! _You're_ a crazy naked guy who keeps showing up at my house at _random_ and talking to me about himself in third person!"

"But Axel _IS_ the dog!" Axel insisted, sitting back (although still on top of Roxas). "Axel swears they are the same!"

As crazy as this Axel guy's claim was, Roxas actually found himself taking a moment to _really_ look at him for the first time. The guy had wild reddish hair that stuck out in back of him at funny angles, rather like the colour and style of the fur and ears on the stray he had brought home. His eyes were the same shocking green as the dog's, something Roxas had specifically noticed about the canine, seeing as it was a rather unnatural colour for an animal. Heck, it was an unnatural colour for a _human_! And last, but not least, this guy had some strange tattoos under his bright eyes, strikingly reminiscent of some markings on the street dog's face. And as disturbed by the fact that the guy was naked as Roxas was, he couldn't help but think that it made a little sense… after all, dogs didn't wear any clothing.

But all of this was just some sort of freaky coincidence, right?

…

_RIGHT!?_

"So let me get this straight." Roxas suspiciously started, searching Axel's face for any hints of the truth. "You're trying to tell me that _you_ are the dog I picked up this afternoon?"

"Yes!" Axel happily replied. Finally they were getting somewhere! "Every day Axel waits at the corner to see Roxas after work, but today Axel got sick but Roxas brought him home so it was the best day ever!" Axel couldn't help but wiggle excitedly as he said this, a fact that made Roxas squirm in slight discomfort – Axel _was_ sitting right on his lap, after all. This did seem to add up, though. Unless this guy was some sort of crazy stalker (which it kind of sounded like he was. But could animals be considered stalkers? Roxas would have to come back to that thought later.) he would have no way of knowing when or where Roxas picked the dog up, or why.

"So… you're the dog?" Roxas asked, just to make sure. This still seemed extremely out-of-the-ordinary to him, and he hadn't fully wrapped his mind around the idea quite yet.

"Yes!" Axel repeated. "Every day Axel prayed to the gods to make him human so that he could talk to Roxas, and finally today Axel's wishes have come true!"

Ah. So an act of divine intervention had taken place. Well that would explain it. Kind of… But right now there were more pressing matters to attend to, such as a pet peeve Roxas felt the need to address.

"Why do you refer to everything in third person? It's annoying."

Axel's hair drooped in a manner that resembled a dog's ears when it is being scolded. "A–Axel is sorry… Human talking is confusing…"

"Yeah, okay well start using 'I' instead of your name, and 'you' instead of mine and all that stuff. Pronouns are your friends."

"Okay!" Axel happily agreed, throwing his hands around Roxas's middle and burying his face in his chest. "So does this mean Ax… _I _can stay?"

Struggling to get Axel off of him, Roxas pushed the older male an arms length away, firmly holding him at that distance. "Look, I have no idea what's going on here, okay? This is just _weird_. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with you and I – _will you stop trying to cuddle me!_? What the heck is wrong with you? You're a _dog_, not a cat!"

"I know that!" Axel scoffed. Pfft, as if he would ever confuse himself with some lowly _feline_. "I'm trying to cuddle you because I _love_ you."

Roxas looked extremely uncomfortably at this admission. He'd heard it said before this afternoon, but now that he had the full grasp of the situation it was just… freaking _weird._

"Why do you keep saying that?" he asked. "You know you're a dog, right? A _male_ dog, might I add! And I know that traditionally male dogs want to hump everything in sight, but I just don't think that –."

"The only thing I want to hump is _you_!" Axel bluntly stated, taking Roxas by complete surprise.

"Uh… well let's just try to ignore those evolutionary prerogatives for now, shall we?" Roxas suggested, a blush tinting the bridge of his nose and threatening to spread. "Here, um, I'll show you where the guest room is and you can stay there for the night and then tomorrow we can –"

"No way!" Axel interrupted. "I want to stay with you tonight!" At this Roxas's blush continued it's spread, tinting nearly his entire face a faint shade of crimson.

"Um, I really don't think that's a good idea…" he began, not wanting to offend Axel, but certainly not wanting to allow him to spend the night in his room either.

"Why not?" Axel asked, an edge of panic rising to his voice. NO! He _HAD_ to spend the night in Roxas's bed! It was imperative to his very _survival_!

"I… I don't even _know_ you!" Roxas argued. "I'm sorry, but I'm really not comfortable with the idea of sharing my room with some strange naked guy who I don't even KNOW."

"Fine…" Axel sighed in resignation. "What if I change back into dog form?"

Roxas considered this. He'd really rather not sleep in the same room anymore now that he knew the dog for what it really was, but on the other hand, leaving it in human form, even in another room, didn't sit well with him either. At least in the same room and in dog form he could keep a watch on what was going on. "Fine." He conceded. "You can stay in here if you change back into dog form."

"YES!" Axel cried, pumping a fist into the air in a triumphant motion.

"But no funny stuff, got it!?" Roxas tacked on for good measure.

"Yeah, sure, whatever!" Axel answered, not really paying attention as he attempted to snuggle back up to Roxas.

"Hey! HEY!" Roxas cried, attempting to push him away. "When I say 'funny stuff', cuddling is included in that statement!"

"…Fine." Axel said, sitting back with a pout.

For a minute the two of them just sat there staring at eachother, not saying anything. Axel was content to just sit there and stare at the object of his affection, but after a while Roxas started to get fidgety.

"Sooo… why don't you turn back into a dog. Like… now."

"Okay." Axel agreed, although after another minute had passed nothing had changed.

"Um… Aren't you going to do it?" Roxas asked, hoping Axel would take a hint.

"I don't know how."

"You don't know how…" Roxas deadpanned. "Well, how do you do it when you change from a dog into a human?"

Axel thought about this for a minute. Hmm, good question. "I'm not sure. It just happens."

"What, you mean you have no control over it?" Roxas questioned disbelievingly.

"Nope."

"Well come on, there's got to be _some_ kind of trigger for it!" the blonde insisted. "I mean… you've done it twice now, right? Maybe there was something that made it happen those times?"

Axel thought about this. Hm. Well, both times he had changed before Roxas had been in close proximity in only his boxers. And the times before that when he had gotten the tingly feeling it had been when he had been really close to Roxas, or excited about something Roxas had done…

"I think it happens when I'm excited about you." Axel stated, coming to a conclusion.

Roxas blanched. "When you _WHAT_?" He questioned. The way Axel said that, it was almost as if he was comparing it to an… a… a physical male reaction to a pleasurable stimulus of some kind. URGH. That was just _weird_. God, this whole DAY was just weird! Roxas made a point of _not_ looking down at Axel's uncovered lower anatomy, suddenly afraid for what he might find there.

"When I'm excited about you." Axel repeated in answer to Roxas's question, and Roxas's eye twitched. Okay, he _really_ hadn't needed to hear that again. He was going to have to explain the concept of 'rhetorical questions' to Axel at some later point in time.

"Okay, well then get _UN_excited."

"…I don't know how…"

"Well then how do you expect me to know!?" Roxas snapped "Go take a cold shower or something!"

Axel's spikes drooped a little at this suggestion. "I don't like baths."

"I know you don't like baths…" Roxas said, feeling slightly exasperated. "I'm just saying that maybe if it's anything like a… Nevermind. Maybe you just need to calm down. Think of something relaxing or… something."

"…Like what?"

"Like… I dunno… a beach or a field or something, I guess."

"Uh… okay?" Axel responded, not understanding how that was supposed to help.

"Shut up." Roxas snapped back, thinking that Axel found his idea stupid and was making fun of him. "Why don't you come up with something better, then?" he challenged.

"I'm sorry! I'm trying!" Axel told him, not wanting Roxas to think he was a _defective_ transforming dog or something. And indeed, trying very hard, Axel set his mind to work thinking very hard about things other than Roxas. Doggie things. Like garbage cans… or roadkill to sniff at… or fire hydrants… or bouncy rubber balls… or… um… wow, this was getting frustratingly boring. All Axel really wanted to be thinking about was Roxas. Not gnawing on bones, or digging holes under fences, or chasing old ladies's cats, or peeing on people's bushes… All of a sudden Axel felt a light punch to his shoulder, and looked over to see Roxas giving him a lopsided smile.

"Hey, good job, you're a dog again."

Hey! Check it out! He _was_ a dog again! _'Interesting…'_ Axel noted. It seemed as though when he didn't have any direct motivation for being in human form ( i.e. something exciting that involved Roxas) he would go right back into his canine form. Cool! He had a vague control over how to switch back and forth! …kinda. Well, not really, but he could pretend. Axel gave a happy yelp, lunging forward to lick Roxas's face.

"Hey cut that out!" Roxas said, pushing the dog back and wiping his cheek off with the back of his hand. "You're gonna get all excited again. Just… go to sleep now, okay?"

Wagging his tail and making happy little dog noises, Axel turned in a circle a few times before lying himself down at Roxas's side, giving a content little huff of breath as he closed his eyes. Roxas sighed as well, flicking off the lamp that sat on his bedside table as he pulled the covers up, settling himself down and trying to get comfortable. Axel was lying really close… a little too close for his comfort. Roxas still wasn't sure how he felt about sharing his bed with a dog that could spontaneously transform into a human at any given time. It was actually rather highly unnerving, to say the least… what if he woke up in the middle of the night and the freaky dog/human had been doing something weird to him in his sleep?

But for now Axel lay perfectly well behaved by his side, falling asleep himself. Roxas watched the steady rise and fall of the dog's side for a few minutes to make sure it was really asleep before scooting just a little bit closer and settling his arm lightly over his bed companion. It _had_ been kind of lonely sleeping all alone in this house for the past couple weeks… and the dog provided a pleasant warmth and – dare he say it? – _cuddliness_ that was hard to resist. Not to mention that now that the dog was clean, it no longer smelled or felt so unpleasant. ' _Okay'_, Roxas admitted, burying his face in the dogs fur and scooting a little bit closer, _'Maybe I DO enjoy having a living, breathing someone to sleep with… But only as a dog! That's natural, right? People naturally like cuddling animals, right?' _

After thinking this over for a while longer, but coming to no decisive conclusion in his head, Roxas decided to just let it drop and go to sleep already. After all, there would be plenty of time to work stuff out tomorrow. Roxas sighed as he tentatively petted the dog's soft fur, closing his eyes and allowing himself to drift off into sleep. He was going to need it, after all – tomorrow was looking like it was going to be a _very_ long day. One thing was for certain though, Roxas thought as the last shreds of his waking mind left him…

"I guess I'm going to have to stop calling you girl."

**.o.O.o.**

End chapter one. X3 More to come, as soon as I finish editing and all that other good stuff. In the meanwhile, reviews are nice. XDD


	2. Ice Cream Mishaps

I own nothing except the order I decided to put the words in!

**.o.O.o.**

Fuzzy and wet were not two sensations that Roxas was particularly accustomed to associating with waking up in the morning. However, those were the first two things his brain registered as he found himself dragged out of sleep the next day. Swatting out in an attempt to thwart off whatever was barraging him with the strange mix of sensations, Roxas grumbled and rolled over, away from whatever was causing the fuzzy wetness. Suddenly a low, pleading whine sounded in the otherwise silent room, and Roxas was instantly wide awake.

The dog!

"WAZZAPPENING?GETOFF!" Roxas yelped in his sleep-induced confusion, jerking away only to find himself tangled in the blankets. Falling quite ungracefully out of bed and landing with a 'thump' on the carpeted floor, Roxas groaned, raising a hand to rub his sore head. A happy bark from beside him drew his attention and he turned to glare at the dog.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Roxas admonished, although it seemed to have no affect on the chipper pooch. Glancing at the clock the blonde noted that it was only around seven o'clock in the morning. "I was _trying_ to sleep in. Work doesn't start for another hour or two." At this Axel whined insistently, nuzzling Roxas's throat. "What do you want? Food? Do you have to pee? What is it?" Axel just continued to stand there wagging his tail, and Roxas took that to mean that the dog had nothing particular in mind, he just felt like being annoying and waking Roxas up early. Grudgingly, Roxas groggily got out of bed, grumbling to himself as he pulled on some pajama pants that had been lying on his floor, along with an overly large t-shirt. It wouldn't do to be walking around the house in just his boxers, not with some freaky dog-boy on the loose, anyways.

Happily trotting along at Roxas's heels, Axel smiled up at the blonde. He was (understandably) in a very good mood this morning. Not only had he woken up in a warm and cozy bed, he had woken up in a warm and cozy bed _with Roxas! _Happily trotting out of the room at Roxas's heels, he followed the blonde down the stairs, wagging his tail as Roxas headed towards the kitchen. Oh goodie! _Food_! Axel's other favourite thing besides Roxas! Grunting vaguely, Roxas set a bowl of cereal down on the floor for Axel, pulling a chair away from the kitchen table out for himself and flopping down in it, immediately laying his head down in his arms and wanting nothing more than to be back in bed.

Happily scarfing down his meal, it didn't take Axel long to polish off the bowl of cereal, looking up to Roxas in accomplishment. But wait! What was this!? Roxas had fallen asleep again! Oh no, Axel couldn't have that. Roxas was supposed to be paying attention to him, not sleeping! Toenails clicking as he trotted over to the slumbering boy, Axel shoved his nose into the blonde's side in an attempt to rouse him. No such luck. Hmm… time to pull out the big guns, then.

"BARK!"

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Roxas jerked up abruptly, frantically glancing around the room. When his gaze eventually settled back onto Axel his expression of startled panic quickly turned into a glare. "What is it, dog? Do you want out or something? Go push the screen door open in the back; it's not locked. I'm going back to bed." As Roxas stood, trudging back up the stairs, Axel went over his options in his head.

_'Let's see… I could follow him back upstairs, but I really do need out. Hmm… marking bushes, or cuddling with Roxas?'_ This actually proved to be a harder decision to make than Axel would have thought. As much as he loved Roxas, who was he to ignore his instinctual need to piss people off by taking a leak on their shrubbery? Pondering this dilemma for a minute more, Axel suddenly struck upon the perfect plan. _'I know! I'll go pee on a bush and **then** go cuddle with Roxas! I'm a genius!'_

Just like Roxas had said, the back door was indeed unlocked, all Axel had to do to get out was shove it open with his nose. Quickly trotting across the lawn and over to the neighbours flowery bushes, he did his thing before racing back inside, taking the steps five at a time in his haste to get back to Roxas, who was just _waiting_ for him in that big, comfortable bed.

_'Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy – OOF!'_

Tripping over the last step, Axel at first thought it was his haste that had caused the fall, only to discover that he had turned back into a human in his excitement over rushing to Roxas. Shrugging, he continued into Roxas's room, slamming the door open…

…only to discover that Roxas wasn't waiting for him at all. The blonde had merely passed out on the bed, covers pulled up so that only a tuft of blonde hair was visible.

"Roxas…" Axel whined, tip-toeing over to the bed. "Roxas, wake up… let's _do_ something…" However it seemed as though Roxas wasn't planning on getting up again anytime soon, and Axel sighed in defeat, not wanting to make Roxas mad by waking him up again. What to do, what to do…

Crawling up to the bedside, Axel lifted the covers, gazing down at Roxas's sleeping face, looking much more peaceful now than he did when awake. Axel couldn't help but smile fondly as he carefully slipped in beside Roxas, lying on his side facing the blonde. Unable to resist, he reached out, running his fingers over Roxas's smooth cheek before slipping his hand into the blonde locks, threading through Roxas's soft hair. The sleeping male sighed in his sleep, shifting slightly and nuzzling his face into his pillow with a sleepy murmur.

Axel's heart nearly burst right then and there.

Pulling the blonde closer, he wrapped his long arms around the smaller male's frame, grinning as Roxas easily shifted into his hold. If Roxas had been awake he surely would never have allowed it, and so for the moment Axel was grateful that the sleeping blonde was unaware of what was transpiring. Why didn't he see that all Axel wanted was to be close to him? After all, they were meant to be together forever – it was _destiny!_ Shifting slightly closer still, Axel breathed a happy sigh into Roxas's hair, making it fluff just the tiniest bit at the action. Pulling back again, Axel smiled down at his sleeping captive before leaning in and…

Getting interrupted by a very loud, very annoying alarm suddenly going off.

Groaning, Roxas turned over, trying to grab a pillow and cover his head with it before realizing that something was terribly off. Axel was in the middle of contemplating the fact that Roxas must have been very used to the alarm, to have not jolted nearly straight out of his skin upon hearing it (like Axel had), when he was suddenly faced with a very grumpy looking Roxas.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Axel grinned back sheepishly. "Um… cuddling you?"

"…and what did I say about that just last night?"

"Um… to not do it?" Axel guesses, still attempting to win Roxas over with his smile.

"Exactly." Roxas said before unceremoniously pushing him out of the bed. Landing on the floor with a yelp, Axel couldn't help but feel hurt. Things were _not_ going as planned. Roxas was supposed to fall in love with him and they would be together forever!

"Now get out of my room, I've gotta get dressed for work."

"But – "

"_Out_, Axel."

"Fine." The redhead pouted, dragging himself out of the room, but not before looking back one last time at the doorway, hopeful that maybe Roxas would change his mind. Which, of course, he didn't.

**.x.X.x.**

"Okay…" Roxas began in an authoritative tone as he tied a length of rope around Axel's neck, struggling with getting it properly knotted with all of the dog's struggling. "Now, I'm going to take you to work with me, but only because I really don't have any other choice. I refuse to let you stay here at home all day doing Lord-Knows-What, so you're going to be good today and do exactly what I tell you to at work, got it?"

Holy crackersnaps was Roxas hot when he got all commanding! Especially in that cute little button-up uniform shirt he had to wear for work!

"Hey, are you listening to me?"

Look at the way his cute little eyebrows furrowed in irritation!

"Hey!"

And the way that pouty little lip stuck out all indignantly!

"HEY!"

Snapping his attention back to what Roxas was actually yelling at him about, Axel thumped his tail against the hardwood floors happily, agreeing wholeheartedly with whatever it was Roxas was saying. Not that Axel had any idea, but _as if_ he was going to disagree with such a cute little pouty, furrowed eyebrows-y blonde sexpot!

Sighing and rolling his eyes, Roxas stood up, tugging on Axel's makeshift leash and heading for the door. "Come on then, mutt, I'm gonna be late for work."

Axel quite enjoyed talking the morning walk _with_ Roxas rather than just catching a brief glance of it as the blonde passed his hideout everyday. The sky was blue, birds were singing, and Roxas had him tied and bound! It was a beautiful, sun-shiney day! And come to find out, Roxas worked in a little streetcorner ice cream shop – Axel had never had the opportunity to follow the blonde to his destination before, and was overjoyed to find out that it led to _food_! Unfortunately he only caught the briefest glance of said delicious sustenance-providing shop before he was being dragged to the back, a few passerby staring in concern at the way Roxas forcefully yanked and pulled Axel around the back of the store.

"Okay then." Roxas began, again in that alluringly domineering tone, as he tied Axel to the bike racks. "You're going to stay back here while I work, got it? I don't want to be dealing with you all day, so just stay put, got it?" The blonde accentuated his demands with a firm tug on the rope, making sure Axel wouldn't be able to escape it's hold. "I'll bring you a snack at lunch or something." Wagging and giving Roxas's hand a parting lick goodbye – a lick that was immediately wiped off onto said blonde's pants with a disgusted 'urgh!' – Axel watched after Roxas as he left, entering the ice cream parlor through the back door.

However, waiting patiently was not one of Axel's stronger qualities. The self appointed motto 'I have very little patience, and can hardly wait until I get some more!' is what Axel lived by, and as a result it was only two or three minutes later that he was feeling extremely bored and fidgety. Whining softly to himself, Axel wondered if it would be lunchtime soon. Like… within the next thirty seconds. Operating on the off chance that this was not the case, Axel began to attack his rope with impressive luster, gnawing at the restraining object. It took him a while, but he was eventually able to loosen the holds and shred the rope enough that it was possible to tug free of the bike rack. With a happy yip of accomplishment Axel trotted over to the back door he had watched Roxas leave through, nudging it hopefully with the side of his muzzle.

Wonder of wonders, it was open!

Thanking the need for the back door to be unlocked, most likely due to chores such as taking out the trash or dead bodies or whatever it was that regularly called for use of an open back door, Axel slunk inside, following a dark little hallway, frayed rope end trailing along after him. The bright light of the main area of the store was right at the end of the hallway, spurring him onward and filling his doggy little heart with thoughts of being reunited with his love.

Apparently, however, it was not commonplace for a scruffy (although happy!) dog to just waltz in out of the back, and laughs and whispers and gasps immediately broke out upon Axel's entrance. But he paid them no heed, he was on a mission. A mission to find –

"_Axel_! What the hell are you _doing_ in here!?"

Ah, music to his ears. Axel would recognize that pissed off voice anywhere.

Running over to the counter, slipping a bit on the slippery tiled floor and causing a few children to break out into giggle fits, Axel made his way to Roxas's side. It didn't matter that the blonde didn't look happy to see him, or that there were all sorts of unnecessary people around to witness their joyful reunion – all that mattered was that Roxas was _right there and he had ice cream in his hand_.

"Axel, cut it out, stop right now! Axel, stop running, you're going to – FUCK!"

Another round of gasps spread at not only Roxas's blatant use of the f-bomb in front of small children, but the fact that Axel had run straight into him, tripping over himself at the last minute and sending them both sprawling onto the floor. Axel immediately made use of the situation, crawling on top of Roxas and lapping up the ice cream that had splattered all over his shirt. But this triumph was short lived as Roxas nearly instantaneously grabbed ahold of the remains of the tattered rope and a good portion of the loose skin and fur around Axel's neck. Roughly grabbing hold and dragging the dog out of the main store area and back down the hallway Axel had entered from, Roxas growled low in his throat, mutterings of pain and misery for Axel's near future falling from his lips. About halfway down the hallway Roxas stopped and kicked a side door open, shoving Axel into what turned out to be a storage closet. Despite Roxas's current fury, Axel still couldn't help but let his mind run wild with the possibilities.

"Okay, dog, let's get something straight…"

Oh man, Roxas was doing that commanding thing again.

"…I don't know where you came from, or why you insist on following me around claiming you're in love with me…"

Axel thought back to what he knew about human romance novels. Wasn't this the kind of thing that always happened? Two people would get stuck in some small, enclosed space, one thing led to another, and the next thing you knew rampant sex was happening.

"…but you just can't keep doing this! You're going to get me in serious fucking _trouble_!"

Axel suddenly felt extremely fidgety, as if all the nerves in his body were jerking, unable to keep still. He wanted, _needed_ to make something happen. This was the perfect moment, the perfect opportunity…

"I mean, it's really flattering and all that you like me and all, but – HEY!"

Axel was suddenly towering over him in his human form, the rope still dangling loosely hanging around his neck serving as the only article on his body that could even remotely pass as clothing. Pressing Roxas back into a cluttered case of shelves, Axel growled softly, moving his lips to Roxas's neck.

"A–Axel, what are you doing?" The blonde whimpered, suddenly not sounding nearly as in control of the situation as he had a second ago. All Roxas got in response, however, was a long lick up the exposed column of his throat. "Axel, d…don't." Roxas's voice had taken on a breathy, gasping quality, and he wasn't fighting to get Axel off of him nearly as much as normally would have been expected. Axel chuckled to himself. So it seemed as though the smaller male wasn't entirely unaffected by the situation. After all, there was only so much being stuck in a small, dark, enclosed space with another attractive individual that a person could take before cracking. Licking a trail up to the underside of Roxas's jaw, Axel growled softly again before nipping at the sensitive flesh and proceeding to latch on to Roxas's throat, sucking gently.

"A–Axel, stop." Roxas stuttered, pulling away with a small whimper. "This is just… no! We can't do this here!"

"Can we go home and do it then?" Axel asked, nuzzling his face into Roxas's soft hair.

"No!" Roxas snapped back. "This is… we can't just… NO! God, Axel – I'm supposed to be at work right now, not getting it on with you in a storage closet!"

"But if we go _home_…" Axel prompted.

"No." Roxas firmly repeated, pointing a finger at Axel's face and poking his nose to emphasize his point. "_You_ are going to be going home _by yourself _and you will be _staying_ there until my shift is over, got it?"

"Nooo…" Axel whined, pressing himself to Roxas, who currently had a shelf wedged rather uncomfortably between his shoulder blades. "I want to stay here with yooou…"

"Axel, no! This is… this… Axel, get off me! God, you're not even _wearing any clothes_!"

"I know…" Axel purred as if it was the greatest thing in the world, running one of his hands up Roxas's shirt. Jerking back wildly, Roxas pushed Axel an arms length away, which was about all the cramped space of the storage closet allowed.

"Okay here's what we're gonna do." Roxas said, looking Axel straight in the eye with a 'listen-up-and-listen-_good_' expression. "_You_ are going to change back into a dog. _I_ am going to somehow tell my boss that I have to go home. And then you and I are _both _going to go home and finish up our little chat. Got it?"

"Finish up…?" Axel questioned hopefully. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Yes. Finish up our _chat._ With _words_. Nothing else."

"Hmph, fine." Axel huffed, the tips of his red spikes drooping slightly in disappointment. He had been so _close_!

It didn't take too long to get Axel back into a state that was acceptable for public viewing, and Roxas made up some half-assed story about a family emergency that he had to get home to. Luckily his boss bought it, and a few minutes later Roxas was dragging Axel back down the street to his house, giving Axel a few harsh tugs on the leash to remind him that they weren't going home to have fun, but to have a serious talk.

As soon as Roxas got the door to his house open, however, Axel was happily racing in, tail wagging as he gave a joyous bark.

"Hey cut it out you idiot, get over here." Roxas snapped. "It's time for us to have a little talk."

**.x.X.x.**

In the end, Roxas's lecture didn't wind up going quite according to plan. Really, you could only take yourself so seriously while lecturing a happy dog, and one that kept trying to lick you endearingly, to boot. Eventually the blonde gave up, and the rest of the day was spent lazing around the house, watching TV and eating snacks. Axel somehow also coerced Roxas into throwing a ball around out in the back yard for a while, and taking him on a walk around the block, and Roxas was surprised to find that both events were rather fun. Axel was a cute dog when he wasn't screwing up Roxas's life, and he was just so happy whenever he was around the blonde. Roxas hadn't ever been in that kind of a situation before, and he found it rather gratifying. It was nice to be wanted, even if it was by a freaky dog-boy who wanted to have sex with him.

That night Roxas had to fight Axel out of the bathroom so he could take his shower. Halfway through it, however, the dog somehow managed to rev himself up enough to turn back into a human and, using the advanced evolutionary powers of opposable thumbs, let himself back in. Roxas had shrieked like a little girl upon being barged in on, but eventually settled for turning away and sharing the shower. After all, it wasn't like he'd never taken showers in public settings like locker rooms and poolhouses before, right? Except for the fact that usually in those cases he wasn't usually being groped every five seconds.

As it turned out, it was a good thing that Axel didn't have all of his fur when he had hopped in the shower, because as Roxas crashed into his bed, followed quickly by Axel, the blonde realized that would have meant having to put up with wet dog smell in his bed all night. However he wasn't sure if having a naked guy who was essentially still a stranger occupying his bed outweighed that outcome by too much.

"Axel, put some clothes on." Roxas groaned, rolling over as Axel tried to latch on to him in a spooning maneuver.

"I don't have any." The redhead responded, making another grab for Roxas, who moved away again, reaching over the side of his bed and chucking a pair of boxers that had been lying on the floor at Axel's face.

"There, now you do." He replied, watching as Axel pulled the garment off of his head, only to dive back in to smell them. "EW! God, what the hell are you _doing_, you freak!?"

"I like them." Axel grinned. "They smell like you."

"Yeah, okay you're gross." Roxas groaned, rolling over as Axel reached down, pulling the fabric up his legs to properly cover himself. No sooner had he done so than he was scooting closer again, pulling Roxas back against his chest and running his hands through the blonde's soft locks of hair. Roxas couldn't even muster up the strength to protest – it had been a long day and (not that he would _ever _admit it) the head scratching actually felt really nice. Turning on his back to be able to look at Axel as the redhead gave a happy sigh, Roxas couldn't help but ask a question that had been nagging him in the back of his mind all day.

"Hey Axel?"

"Hmm?" the redhead replied, nuzzling into the crook of Roxas's neck as he tentatively skimmed his fingers over the bit of Roxas's stomach that had been revealed when the blonde's shirt had ridden up. Roxas chose not smack him across the face… _this_ time.

"How come you like me so much? You don't even know me."

"You're perfect." Axel quickly replied, not even looking up.

"No I'm not." Roxas retorted, a little exasperated. "Come on, seriously." He urged, tugging Axel off of him and making the taller male look him in the eye. "Why do you like me?"

"Because…" Axel replied, this time sounding like he was going to go into a little more detail. "I saw you walking to work every day and thought you were the most beautiful person I had ever seen. And then when I passed out on the street you were the one who rescued me. You're the first person that's ever been nice to me and paid attention to me."

Roxas flushed a little, both flattered and slightly embarrassed. He wasn't used to such sincere and meaningful compliments. "It's not a big deal."

"Yes it is." Axel insisted, scooting closer and lying himself on top of Roxas. He winced a little, anticipating and waiting for the blonde to shove him off the bed, but relaxed when all Roxas did was sigh and roll his eyes, resigned to the fact that Axel was going to attempt to crawl all over him any chance he got. "You're the most important person in the world to me, Roxas. You make me feel like… like… I don't know. Like I'm more than just some ratty dog you picked up on the street. You make me feel special."

With that last admission said, Axel laid his head back down on Roxas's chest, wrapping his arms around the boy's chest. Roxas was glad the redhead hadn't chosen to comment on the deep flush he just knew was streaked across his face. As embarrassing as Axel's words might have been, at the same time they made Roxas's chest feel exceptionally full. It was… kind of nice to be so wanted and loved. Suddenly Roxas realized why so many people had pets – to get this feeling of security that came from this level of loyalty and devotion that they couldn't get from fellow humans. Except Roxas's case seemed to be an exception to this rule. It seemed as though through some twist of fate he had been handed not only the zealous loyalty and companionship of a pet _as well_ as pure devotion and love from a human. How many people would kill for this kind of an opportunity? And here he had just had it carelessly tossed right at him, almost as if fate had just looked down at him and said "Here, take this. Be happy."

Roxas sighed, reaching out to turn out his bedside lamp before readjusting his position on the bed, a little awkwardly due to the fact that he was currently being laid on. "Hey Axel…"

"Hmm?" came the muffled reply, Axel's face buried in Roxas's sleep shirt.

"Um… I know I told you you're a pain and everything, and that's still holds true, but…" Roxas trailed off, not wanting to sound too sappy, but eventually just deciding to screw it and just say it anyways. "Thanks. For liking me."

Axel suddenly sat up, a brilliant smile on his face that Roxas could still see despite the darkness the room had been plunged into. "Really!?"

"Uh… yeah." Roxas awkwardly replied. "Really."

Suddenly a pair of warm lips settled over his own, forcefully pressing down to capture and recapture Roxas's mouth in a hungry kiss. Axel gripped Roxas's arms in a heady embrace, smoothly shifting so that their bodies were perfectly aligned when he pressed himself against the blonde. Roxas's head spun, but before he could even begin to make sense of any of it, it was gone. Axel pulled away, moving slightly off of Roxas so that he was now only half lying on top of him, hooking a leg over Roxas's hip and wrapping long arms around Roxas's waist. Roxas opened his mouth to ask what the _hell_ just happened, but before he could say anything Axel was heaving a content sigh, nuzzling his face into the crook of Roxas's neck.

"You're welcome."

Roxas closed his mouth, not having any response to that. It seemed as though the burst of passion had just been some sort of built up 'thank you' of Axel's own, but damn if Roxas wasn't still extremely confused by what had just taken place. But as Axel's breathing evened out, letting Roxas know that the redhead was falling asleep, simply content to hold him for the night, Roxas figured it didn't really matter anyways. Whatever it was, it could wait until the morning.

**.x.X.x.**

_Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!_

"Nnnnnnnrgh…" Roxas grumpily turned over, smacking his alarm until it turned off, feeling a tug at his waist at his movement. Glancing down to see Axel's arm thrown over his in a possessive embrace, Roxas rolled his eyes. Honestly, the redhead had nearly jumped out of his skin when he'd heard the alarm while he was awake, but it seemed as though in sleep he was far enough out of it that the shrill ringing wouldn't pull him from his slumber. Shoving Axel's arm off of him, Roxas blearily shuffled out of bed and headed over to his dresser, yawning as he pulled out his work uniform shirt and pants. All of his other clothes were, of course, scattered around the room in typical teenage boy fashion, but he didn't think his boss would approve of him showing up to work in a crumpled and stinking uniform.

"Roxas!" Axel suddenly called out in greeting, looking sleep-mussed but sounding quite happy and awake.

"Hey, Axel." Roxas replied, clipping on his tie and heading out of the room. Axel scampered after him, grabbing onto the blonde's wrist and holding it as Roxas headed downstairs and into the kitchen. Roxas thought about shrugging it off, but decided against it. It was kind of cute, really, that Axel seemed to be trying to hold his hand.

"What are we going to do today?"

"_I_ am going to work." Roxas informed him. "And _you_ aren't going to show up and screw things up again, you got it?"

Axel pouted. "But I want to _beeeee_ with _yoooooooou_…" he whined. "And when you're at your boring job all day I can't do that."

"Well too bad, you're staying here." Roxas told him, grabbing a cereal bar and handing it to Axel. "Here, eat this, I'm gonna go get my wallet and stuff." As Roxas headed back upstairs he wasn't surprised to hear Axel clambering up after him.

"I'm coming to work with you." Axel insisted.

"No you're not." Roxas said, rounding on him. "You'll mess everything up and get me fired!"

"No I won't!" Axel insisted. "I can go in as a human and sit in the corner and watch you or something!"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, because _that's_ not suspicious. Besides, you'd get all fidgety after like five seconds of that. Or worse – you'd get _bored_ and change back into a dog right in the middle of the store."

"I'll go as just a dog then! I could even wait outside in the front! I'll even let you tie me to a post like the other owners do when they need to go into a store without their pets!"

For some reason Axel saying this made Roxas feel a little bad. If Axel was willing to sit outside all tied up and degraded like some common pet, he must have really wanted to be around Roxas really, _really_ badly.

"…even if I say 'no' you're going to find a way to barge in there anyways, aren't you?"

"Yep!" Axel supplied with a grin. Roxas sighed.

"Fine. I'll bring you with me. But you have to _swear_ not to get me in any trouble, do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand!" Axel happily replied, grabbing Roxas into a hug. "Thank you so much, Roxas!"

"Yeah, you're welcome you stupid mutt." Roxas smirked playfully, lightly punching Axel in the shoulder.

A few minutes later, and Roxas and Axel were heading down the street, Axel as a dog and once again on the same tattered rope leash from the previous day. Every once in a while Axel would look up at Roxas and smile a doggy grin as he wagged his tail, happy to have been brought along. And true to his word, he allowed Roxas to tie him up to the post outside the front of the store, leaving him there as Roxas went inside.

However, Roxas's predictions soon proved true as only a few minutes later Axel found himself bored stiff. Unfortunately this time he was in plain sight of Roxas through the large front windows, and as the blonde seemed to have built-in 'Axel-is-doing-something-he-shouldn't-be' sensors, the dog decided it would be wise to not do anything that would get him or Roxas in trouble.

'_Bored… bored, bored, boooooooooored.'_ Axel thought to himself, watching people pass by on the street. No one paid him much attention, and as a result he soon found himself getting slightly disheartened by his willingness to let Roxas tie him up on the street. It was quite lonely out here. Nothing was worse than feeling alone in a crowd. His thoughts began to wander, and the next thing he knew he was slipping asleep, unable to find anything worthwhile to keep him awake…

"Hey there, Axel – how you holding up?"

ROXAS!

With a happy yelp, Axel jerked awake, looking up to see Roxas looking down on him, hands in his pockets and an amused expression on his face. Jumping up, Axel rested his front paws on Roxas's shoulders for balance as he gave the boy's face a thorough lick.

"Down! Down, Axel, get down!" Roxas grumped, pushing Axel off. "You'll get my uniform all dirty." Roxas sighed. "Come on, I don't have a very long break, let's get going."

Untying Axel's makeshift leash, Roxas led him to a nearby park for a few minutes, giving Axel the chance to stretch his legs and sniff a few interesting smells. All too soon, however, Axel was being tugged back to the store and tied up outside once again. Heaving a sigh, Axel flopped down, sending Roxas his best 'sad doggy face' and whimpering a little.

"Yeah, yeah, you're very cute and pitiful. I'm sorry." Roxas acknowledged sarcastically. "But I have to get back to work. It's only another hour or so. You'll live." Axel watched Roxas head back into the store before settling down one again, an indignant huff of air accompanying his flopping onto the sidewalk.

It seemed to take forever, but finally – _FINALLY!_ – Roxas was coming back outside, done with his shift for the day. Axel's heart leapt with excitement as the rope was undone from the pole and Roxas led him off down the street. Prancing alongside the blonde, Axel couldn't help himself from leaning over and licking Roxas's hand affectionately. Of course Roxas promptly wiped it off and made a disgusted face, but Axel still caught the hint of a smile that threatened to break out afterwards. The moment they got into the house Axel lunged, instantly transforming into human form, and trapped Roxas against a doorframe in the entry.

"Axel! Axel, cut it out!" Roxas protested, trying to squirm away as Axel dragged his tongue along the underside of the blonde's jawline.

"No way…" Axel replied between licks. "You were in that stupid place without me all day – now it's _my_ turn to have your attention."

"Fine!" Roxas gasped as Axel bit down lightly on the side of his neck. "You have my attention, just – ah! – cut that out!"

"No." Axel replied stubbornly. He had missed out on 'Roxas time' all day so far, and he was going to make up for that lost time if it was the last thing he did! Running one hand down Roxas's side he rested it on the curve of the smaller boy's hip, squeezing with a teasing pressure, rubbing his thumb in small circles.

"Axel…" Roxas panted, weakly trying to push the taller boy off of him. "S-stop that…" Because so help him if Axel _didn't_ stop it, he was going to have a little, er… _problem_ any minute now. Unbeknownst to Axel, Roxas's hipbones were one of his more sensitive 'trigger' spots, as it were. However Axel chose to ignore this request, pressing his thumb even harder into the dip of Roxas's hip, simultaneously nipping at the hollow of Roxas's throat.

"AXEL!" Roxas yelped, bucking his hips forward both in reaction to the onslaught of sensation and in an attempt to throw Axel off of him. "Axel… we… we can't… we're in the middle of the entry of my house! Get yourself under control, you horndog!"

"…but… you liked it…" Axel uncertainly replied, almost a question – as if he wasn't sure if Roxas really had or not.

"Yeah, well… um… I mean I didn't exactly… uh…I… I'm going to take a shower!" Roxas announced with a blush, turning and heading up the stairs.

"But it's the middle of the –"

"I don't care!" Roxas interrupted, racing up the rest of the stairs and slamming the bathroom door behind him. Axel stood frozen to the spot, not quite processing what had just occurred. He had been pretty sure that Roxas had liked the attention being so generously lavished upon him… but maybe he had been wrong? Maybe Roxas didn't like Axel back as much as Axel liked Roxas? Whimpering to himself, Axel headed into the living room, flopping down on the couch and waiting for Roxas to be done with his middle-of-the-day shower.

By the time Roxas came back downstairs, Axel was back in dog form, curled up on the couch and looking downtrodden. With a sigh, Roxas plopped down next to him, grabbing the remote and flipping on the television. Personally, Axel didn't get why the blonde spent so much of his time staring at a glowing box, but he figured he'd just keep his mouth shut about it. Cautiously, he moved to set his head down in Roxas's lap, hoping he was forgiven for whatever lines he had crossed when they first gotten home. For a second Roxas didn't acknowledge him, but it didn't take too long before Roxas had lifted his hand, setting it down on Axel's head and petting him. Axel closed his eyes, content to simply lay there and let his Roxas gently run a hand over his fur…

The next thing Axel knew, he was being shaken awake. Upon opening his eyes, he discovered that it was dark, the only light in the room being provided by the faint glow of the television, which was till on, but with the volume turned down low. He hadn't even realized that he had fallen asleep…

"It's getting late." Roxas informed him, standing up. "Time to go to bed." Axel gave a low whine. _Already_? But they hadn't done anything _fun _today!

Oh well, there was always tomorrow…

**.x.X.x.**

Unfortunately for Axel, the rest of the week passed rather uneventfully. Roxas would rise first thing in the morning, go take his shower (taking to locking the door after a few attempts on Axel's part at trying to get in and join him), get dressed, snag a quick breakfast, and be out the door, headed for work. He allowed Axel to continue to tag along, but Axel found himself growing increasingly bored and downtrodden over the fact that he had to be tied up to a lightpole or fencepost all day while Roxas worked inside. Occasionally people would stop by and pet him, but most of his time and energy was spent looking longingly at Roxas through the front window and trying to find ways to amuse himself. Axel was used to being free to run around all day, doing whatever he wanted, and it made him very fidgety to be at the restriction of a rope for hours on end.

But he did it for Roxas.

Axel stopped keeping track of the days of the week. Not many were passing, but they were long and boring and not filled with enough Roxas time. Sure, after work every day Roxas would walk home with him and talk to him a little, but as soon as they stepped inside he would collapse on the couch and let the television hold most of his attention for the rest of the afternoon. Once he tried to show Axel how to use some sort of little controller that, when you pressed buttons and toggles, allowed you to make things on the screen blow up, but Axel didn't really get it. So he spent his time trying to crawl into Roxas's lap (whether in dog or human form) to get pets and scratchies, any sort of attention he could manage.

Sometimes the nights were good, though. By then Roxas had usually somewhat recharged from his exhausting work day, and Axel could snuggle up to him in bed, draping his long, lanky limbs around the smaller boy, and they would talk. Roxas would sigh with feigned irritation at the contact and jabbering, but sometimes Axel would catch him trying to stifle a smile and he knew Roxas liked the attention and love. Roxas would tell Axel about how his day had gone, how many rude customers had come in, and how much he hated his job. Axel didn't understand why Roxas would keep a job that he hated so much, but assumed it must just be a human thing.

Finally one morning, after endless days of boredom for Axel, Roxas woke up, rolled over and out of bed, stood up, stretched, and proclaimed in a groggy voice "Thank _God_ it's Friday."

'_Friday?'_ Axel's brain computed as he woke up at hearing his beloved blonde speak. _'Friday is at the end of the week! As in the last day before the weekend! AS IN AFTER TODAY ROXAS IS GOING TO HAVE FREE TIME TO SPEND WITH ME!'_ Instantly Axel's outlook on life, or at least the day, brightened considerably.

Axel chipperly allowed himself to be dragged along on that ratty old leash to Roxas's work. He wagged his tail as Roxas tied him to a lamppost, flicking out his tongue for a parting goodbye lick as Roxas headed away. He smiled as Roxas looked back over his shoulder at him before closing the store's door behind him, and then sat his cute little doggie butt down and waited for Roxas to be done with work.

And waited.

…and waited…

'_Whiiiiiiiiine…'_ Axel flopped down in frustration. He had been waiting for hours – HOURS! – and Roxas had yet to so much as come out to visit on a break. Axel was boooooored once again, and he was starting to feel a little pouty. What was taking Roxas so long? It was starting to get a little late… the sun was sitting low in the sky, sending shadows creeping over the ground, a slightly nippy breeze ruffling Axel's fur. _'Rooooooxas…'_ Axel internally whined. _'Where aaaaare yooooooou?'_

As if on cue, Roxas stomped out of the store, his hands jammed into his pockets and a sullen expression set on his features. Yelping happily, Axel leapt out to him as best he could – curse that restraining leash! – and proceeded to lather the blonde with slobbery licks and kisses.

"Cut it out, Axel." Roxas heartlessly ordered, shoving Axel off of him and proceeding to untie the leash. Flattening his ears sadly, Axel backed off, tucking his tail between his legs at Roxas's tone. What had he done wrong? Why was Roxas mad at him?

To Axel's surprise, he found Roxas leading him not down the street, away from the store and back to the house, but actually _**into** the ice cream parlor_. Shoving the door open and sending it swinging swiftly on its hinges to smack into the interior wall with a sickening crack, Roxas tugged Axel inside. Axel quirked an ear up at Roxas in confusion, but Roxas wasn't even looking at him. He was glaring straight ahead, and looking in the same direction, Axel saw that a middle aged man was standing in their path with his arms crossed.

"What do you think you're doing?" the man asked. "You're not allowed to bring that filthy animal in here!"

"Well too bad." Roxas snapped back. "He's my dog, and I'm not leaving him tied up out in the cold. He's staying in here with me." Axel wagged his tail enthusiastically as his heart filled to bursting. Roxas was _defending_ him! The man sent a glare at Axel, and then back to Roxas, before apparently giving in, but not without parting words of warning.

"Fine then, but you had better keep it under control. If I find one single smelly dog hair floating around here tomorrow when I come in, it's costing you your job."

"Big loss." Roxas muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I said _yes sir_." Roxas amended through gritted teeth. "Everything is under control."

Nodding sharply, the man left, Roxas wasting no time in flipping him the bird the moment the door closed behind him. "Fucking _hate_ that guy." Roxas mumbled, grabbing a broom and heading off behind the counter. Axel trotted after him, whining a little to ask for an explanation.

"That guy's my boss." Roxas informed him. "He's making me stay late to do closing, while he fucking runs off to go sit on his ass at home, stuffing his ugly face, or whatever it is he does."

Axel dropped his ears sympathetically. He knew what it was like to have people be mean. Leaning out and licking Roxas's hand consolingly, he concentrated his hardest and focused on turning into a human. A few moments later and his endeavour was accomplished. Stepping up behind Roxas and pulling him back into a hug, Roxas started, not having been expecting it.

"What the – AXEL! What are you doing!? Don't do that here, anyone could see you!"

"Everyone's gone…" the redhead pointed out.

"You're naked!" Roxas countered. "That's… you… ARGH, here!" The blonde pulled his apron up and over his head, tossing it at Axel. "Put that on."

Happily complying, Axel pulled the clothing article up and over his head, clumsily tying the dangly straps around his waist. "How long will we be here?" Axel asked, looking around excitedly. Everything was very clean and white and smelled like _food_!

"I dunno, a little while longer." Roxas told him, rolling his eyes as he swept some debris from the floor into a dustpan. Axel continued surveying the area, spotting a few cartons sitting in a corner behind the counter, a creamy substance leaking out over the rims.

"What's _that_!?" he asked in wonderment, scampering over. Roxas looked to where Axel's gaze was fixed, shrugging.

"Eh, just the leftover ice cream from today that's no good. I've gotta toss that out in a minute."

"Toss it out!?" Axel echoed incredulously. "Why? We could _eat_ it instead!"

"What? No!" Roxas chided as Axel reached out to tug the lid off of one of the containers. "Axel, that ice cream's all messed up and melty. If you want some so bad we have some at home in the freezer."

Axel successfully pried the lid open, licking some of the sticky mess off of his fingers. "It tastes fine to me!"

"Axel, ew! Cut that out!" Roxas commanded, grabbing the container and attempting to yank it away. Axel refused to relinquish his hold on it, however, and a short tug-of-war later found said tub of melted ice cream flying out of both of their hands and all over the front of one very disgruntled blonde.

"…Axel…" Roxas began warningly, and the taller male backed away slowly, heading for the back exit as a way of escape. Roxas, although small and cute and blonde, was not one to be trifled with when he was mad.

"Um… oops?"

"Oops is right." Roxas growled, and Axel's eyes widened in shock as a sudden change came over the smaller boy's countenance. Roxas's lips twisted into an evil smirk, and his body language suggested that he was about to make a very sudden, extremely drastic movement of some sort. As a pre-emptive counter maneuver, Axel turned tail and tried to bolt for the back exit, but Roxas launched, sending them both falling to the ground in a sticky mess of melted ice cream, tangled limbs, and rumpled clothing. Laughing maliciously, Roxas scooped up a handful of melted ice cream from the tub, plopping it right smack dab on Axel's face. The kid must have snapped, Axel figured, but right now it was working to his advantage so he wasn't going to complain. He had a sticky, messy Roxas straddling him, and the kid was _enjoying_ it. In retaliation to Roxas's attack, Axel wiped the mess out of his face, smearing it into Roxas's pretty blonde locks. Feigning anger, Roxas snarled out a "that's it, you're going _down_!" before upending the entire tub over the boy beneath him.

Writhing as the cold goo slathered all over him, Axel laughed. This was _fun_! They were getting messy, and there was an awful lot of physical contact happening, and he couldn't think of anything he'd rather be doing! Taking the initiative to catch Roxas off guard and flip their positions, Axel wasted no time in pressing the entire length of his body town on Roxas's, pinning the boy's hands over his head. Smirking down at his captive, Axel leaned forward, licking trough a glob of ice cream that had gathered on Roxas's cheek. Squirming and laughing, the blonde attempted to get away, but to no avail. "Axel, noooooooooo!" he called out, but Axel was relentless in cleaning Roxas's face up with his tongue. "It tickles!"

After a few more minutes of fun as the lick-fest escalated into a tickling/wrestling/(on Axel's part) grope session, the two boys collapsed against eachother, the occasional chuckle escaping as they both gasped for air. Eventually Roxas heaved a long, heavy sigh, and smiled up at Axel. "We should finish cleaning the store and get headed home."

As the two walked home (Axel back in dog form but still covered in melted ice cream) after cleaning up the store, Axel noticed that Roxas was looking a lot more at ease than he had in the past week that Axel had been with him. It was as if a few minutes of pure, unadulterated fun and silliness were just what he had needed after a long, stressful week of working at a job he detested. Smiling a doggy smile to himself, Axel happily trotted along at the blonde's heels, eagerly awaiting the coming weekend break. They could have so much fun together, and Roxas could spend one hundred percent of his time with Axel! The possibilities for this weekend were _endless_!

Roxas noisily shoved the key in the lock to his front door, jingling the keychains as he turned the doorknob open and pushed his way into the house. Flipping a light switch on he looked over both himself and his furry companion before nodding, seeming to have come to a conclusion. "Come on." He said, moving to the couch and flopping down on it tiredly. "I'm exhausted and it's too late to struggle through getting you a bath, so we're camping out on the couch tonight." With a happy yelp of approval at this idea, Axel leapt up onto Roxas, nesting down into the couch and the squelchy shirt of his blonde. Yes, it was disgusting and uncomfortable, and they would probably regret it in the morning, but for now they were content to simply drift of to sleep, covered in ice sticky, melty cream but happy just to be together.

**.o.O.o.**

Hooray! Chapter two is complete! Next chapter is the last, and it may take me some time to finish writing/editing it for errors and all that, but I'll get it out as soon as I can! Thanks for reading! And thanks ESPECIALLY to all of you who who reviewed last chapter! I was blown away by you guys! Thanks so much!


	3. I Guess I Like You Too

**IMPORTANT! **THIS IS THE EDITED, FFNET FRIENDLY VERSION OF THE STORY! I'm paranoid and don't want to get kicked off for violating content guidelines or anything… But if you're a pervert like me and want to read the whole, dirty thing in it's entirety, it can be found at http(COLON SLASH SLASH)games(DOT)adultfanfiction(DOT)net(SLASH)story(DOT)php(QUESTION MARK)no(EQUAL SIGN)600081192(FANCY 'AND' SIGN THAT SHARES THE SEVEN KEY)chapter(EQUAL SIGN)3

(Yarg, I hate the way ffnet kills links. Just fill in the parts in parentheses with the right things and hope it gets you to the right place. If not, I'm going to try to put the link in my profile)

**.o.O.o.**

"…oh ew."

Axel awoke with an unpleasant start as he was knocked onto the ground, a gross squelching sound accompanying the action. Blinking up and trying to get his bearings, Axel saw Roxas sitting up, looking himself over in disgust as he ran a hand through his sticky blonde locks. Giving himself a once over, Axel found that he too was a mess, and last nights events flooded back to him… The ice cream fight may have been fun at the time, but now the mess it had left behind was just a little repulsive, and a LOT uncomfortable. Roxas looked down at Axel, scrutinizing the situation, before standing up (making a face at the feeling of sticky ice cream remnants pulling at his skin and clothes) and making an announcement.

"We need to get clean."

Now Axel might have been a dog… sort of… but he wasn't stupid. First off, he knew that they had to get clean without Roxas having to tell him. But secondly, and more importantly for that matter, he understood that 'getting clean' most definitely was going to entail some sort of B–A–T–H. Even though the last bath Roxas had given him hadn't been _that_ bad, and had involved a lot of very nice massaging and petting of his fur, Axel's instincts – developed from years of evolutionary fine-tuning by generations of his doggy ancestors – told him that bath equals bad. Run away from bath. Run away NOW. So with a yelp and a leap for the door, Axel tried to make his desperate escape, only to find that the door was, in fact, closed and locked. Of course. Whining pitifully as Roxas rolled his eyes and crossed the room to grab him by the scruff of the neck and drag him off, Axel prepared himself for his doom. So prepared was he in anticipation of the horrific upcoming event, that he was surprised to find that instead of being dragged up the stairs, Roxas was hauling him out the side door of the house, into the backyard.

In all of Axel's adventures in sniffing around Roxas's backyard, he had somehow failed to notice that there was a back deck. Which actually wasn't that surprising, considering that most of his interests in the outdoors consisted of foliage that he could mark, being the manly male dog that he was. But to the back deck was where Roxas was dragging him to, letting go of his fur when they reached the steps, and hopping up to retrieve a pathetic looking mass of rubbery plastic, dragging it back into the yard and hooking it up to a very noisy hose of some sort that was attached to a box machine thing that had a lot of air coming out if the little leaks in it. Humans sure owned some unusual stuff.

That's when things got a little odd. Right before Axel's eyes the mass of plastic began to GROW. Putting his ears back skeptically, Axel sniffed it. Ew. It smelled weird. Roxas, however, didn't seem to think anything of it, grumpily leaving it be and stalking off to grab another hose, this one attached to the wall of the house. Aw, the blonde was so cute with his clothes all rumpled and his hair all disheveled and his face all pouty and HOLY CRUD WATER CAME OUT OF THE SECOND HOSE AND ROXAS WAS BRINGING IT CLOSER TO HIM!

Yelping and tucking his tail between his legs, Axel took off, cowering in the far corner of the yard. "Idiot." Roxas grumbled, apparently not in a very fond mood today, as he slung the hose into the inflating plastic. _'Oh.'_ Axel realized. _'He's not going to use it on me. That's okay then.'_ Assured in the knowledge that he wasn't going to get sprayed with the hose, Axel trotted back over to Roxas to see what he was doing. The Inflating Plastic Thing was at this point taller than Axel could see into, about at Roxas's waist, but a lot of sloshing was coming from inside it. However, the sloshing didn't do much to hold Axel's attention for more than, oh, about a second, so he turned to observe Roxas.

Said blonde was still looking a bit disgruntled and irritable, so Axel gave him a reassuring lick on the hand, and then another when he found that Roxas's current taste was ice cream. Roxas didn't tug his hand away like he normally would have, but he sent Axel a rather unnerving smile. Axel cocked an ear in question, but Roxas just chuckled to himself. "Live it up while ya can, dog." He said. "Cause in a minute or two I don't think you're going to like me enough to want to be tongue kissing my hand, ice cream flavouring or no."

'_Pfft, as if.'_ Axel smugly thought to himself. _'That kid obviously doesn't grasp the scope of my love. Nothing he could ever EVER do would make me not love him anymore.'_ With that in mind, Axel continued licking Roxas's hand, enjoying the taste and the fact that Roxas was allowing it. After a minute Roxas suddenly pulled away, and Axel didn't even have time to be disappointed, because the blonde had only pulled away so that he could crouch down in front of Axel, holding out his arms in a gesture that just screamed "I welcome you into my embrace!"

Happily leaping into Roxas's arms, not bothering to question the random and unusually open display of affection, Axel closed his eyes and nuzzled his sticky ice cream nose into the crook of Roxas's neck. "That's a good boy…" Roxas told him, sounding distracted and hobbling awkwardly as he struggled with Axel's weight and the fact that he was apparently stepping up and over something. '_Oh happy day!'_ Axel's brain rejoiced. _'Roxas thinks I'm a good boy!'_

And with that last thought echoing around in his little doggie brain, Axel was unceremoniously dumped into a pool of water.

Confused and anguished howls and yelps filled the air as Axel flailed about, trying to get his footing. What was this debauchery!? Axel doggie paddled like his life depended on it, wanting – no _needing_ – to get out of the water. _'Oh Roxas, why would you betray me so?'_ he internally bemourned. Roxas had been partly right a few minutes ago… Although Axel didn't think he could ever completely stop loving the traitorous blonde…

He had to admit – right now he liked Roxas a little less than usual.

"Oh come on!" Roxas laughed, grabbing Axel around the middle and keeping the dog afloat, seeming to be in a much better mood now that Axel was flailing about miserably. "It's just a little water!"

'_That's what you think!'_ Axel angrily thought, still doggie paddling franticly, even though Roxas was holding him in place. _'To you it may be just a little water, but to me… IT IS THE ENEMY!'_

"Oh here, quit struggling." Roxas said, hauling Axel awkwardly into his arms. "Your fur is a mess and I need to get all the ice cream cleaned out."

Twisting around, Axel could see that most of the ice cream had already washed off of Roxas, only a little bit still stuck in his hair. Other than that, the water had easily washed it off of his smooth skin, and it was no wonder the kid was able to take such pleasure in Axel's torment. _'Oh, I see how it is. Now that HE'S clean, my dirty fur and soaking wet humiliation are a source of amusement!'_ Axel huffed, not admitting that this sadistic side of Roxas was pretty hot. Nope, definitely not admitting it. Not even _thinking_ it.

…oh all right, it was freaking sexy as hell, okay? There, fine, Axel could own up to the truth on occasion, dammit. Especially if it involved Roxas.

Ears laid back in what could only be described as a doggie interpretation of a pout, Axel quit his struggling and allowed Roxas to heft him up further into his arms, supporting Axel's thin frame and pulling him over to the edge of the pool where a couple of shampoo bottles had been set up at a convenient nearby table. Balancing the dog on his hip, Roxas grabbed one of the bottles, squelching a blob of overpoweringly fragrant goo into Axel's fur. Eeeeeeeeew, it was _cold_. Axel wrinkled his nose in disgust. Was it really any wonder why he hated baths so much? As the thick, gooey liquid seeped into his fur, Axel squirmed a little in Roxas's hold, not enjoying the sensation.

"Oh come on, it's not THAT bad." Roxas chided, a hint of amusement to his words. Axel gave a slight growl in return, not intending to follow through with an outburst of snapping teeth or anything of the sort, but serving as a warning nonetheless. A sort of friendly reminder, as it were. He was a beast of teeth and claws! Not that he'd ever use them on Roxas, but whatever. "Alright, alright, I got it." Roxas chuckled. "No more teasing, I'm sorry."

Roxas was true to his word after that, cutting out the teasing and working on massaging the shampoo deep into Axel's fur, getting all of the sticky ice cream out of it. As with the previous bath experience with Roxas, Axel soon found himself forgetting why he hated them so much in the first place. Sure, the water was cold and wet, and the shampoo was thick and smelled funny and fluffed his fur up all weird, but with Roxas lavishing so much attention on him… it tended to overwrite all the negatives. Axel found tingles spreading through his body at the blonde's touch, and he squirmed a little in the boy's hold. If Roxas giving him a bath like _this_ was nice, he could only imagine what it would be like if…

"AXEL!" Roxas burst, in an angry voice that was trying to stay restrained, as far as noise level went. "You can't just change into a person outside! In the middle of my _yard_! Anyone could see you!"

"No they won't…" Axel purred, now able to stand above the water, using this to his advantage by turning and pinning the blonde up against the edge of the pool. "You have hedges, no one's going to be able to see…"

"You don't know that!" Roxas insisted, pushing in vain at Axel's chest, trying to get the taller boy off of him. "Come on, cut it out!"

"Mmmm… no." Axel grinned, leaning down so he was nose to nose with his prey. "I think I won't."

"Axeeeeel!" Roxas whined, pouting.

"Roxaaaaaas." Axel mimicked, adding a completely different tone to how he said it. A _suggestive_ tone. Roxas blushed.

"Axel." Roxas stated, glaring and using his authoritative 'I'm-the-boss-you-listen-to-what-I-tell-you-to-do' voice. Yummy.

"Rrrrrroxas." Axel repeated in a teasing growl, before leaning forward and biting at the bare juncture of Roxas's neck and shoulder.

"A-Axel!" Roxas gasped, a tinge of panic in his voice. "S-stop it! We're in the middle of my backyard! You can't j-just – AXEL!"

Axel pulled back as he was smacked upside the head, although it didn't hurt too much. Apparently Roxas didn't take too well to having his neck sucked. Either that, or he took _very_ well to it, and just didn't want Axel to know. And that was a chance Axel was willing to take.

Moving back in, Axel bit down on a nap of flesh, gently teething it and laving at it with his tongue. Shuddering breaths, along with garbled versions of Axel's name spilled from the blonde's lips, and Axel couldn't help but notice that the attempts at struggling away had become halfhearted at best. Working his way up Roxas's neck, Axel nibbled and licked his way to Roxas's jawline, where he kissed the soft skin briefly before gently biting down again, bringing a hand up into Roxas's hair, fingers weaving through the tangled golden strands.

"A…Axel, we shouldn't…" Roxas managed in a near-whisper, tilting his head to the side to allow for better access. "We're practically out in public and I… I…" Axel silenced him by sliding his hand down the blonde's back, pressing insistently against the small of it and pushing their hips together. The smaller boy lost his train of thought in a shuddering exhale, impulsively pressing closer and gripping onto Axel's upper arms to support himself, the rest of his weight being pinned against the waist-high pool edge. Axel smirked, moving his mouth up to Roxas's earlobe, gently taking it between his teeth and giving a tug. Roxas's breath hitched, and Axel could have sworn he heard a whimper in there as well, although he couldn't be certain. But at the moment it didn't matter – what mattered was that he was slowly but surely getting closer and closer to his goal of making Roxas his. Oh yes, sweet victory was on the horizon. He could practically _taste­_ –

**HONK HONK!**_ Crash!_

Jumping nearly out of his skin, Roxas pushed Axel off, looking around frantically to see what was going on. Through some sparse patches in the hedges he could see the neighbours' car having some bizarre issues with starting, making a ton of noise as it crashed into some trash cans before pulling away and driving off. Really, they hadn't even known the disturbance they had caused, or that Axel and Roxas had even been out in the next yard over (let alone what activities they had been engaged in), but it was enough to break Roxas out of whatever sensually hypnotized state he had been in, and he stepped out of the little pool with a blush, stalking off into the house without another word.

'_Damn.'_ Axel pouted, watching the blonde stomp off. _'So close.'_

Roxas, meanwhile, rushed up to his room and locked the door, not quite sure what to think with himself. He had let Axel feel him up in almost-public and he… he had _enjoyed_ it. Dear gods above, what was _wrong_ with him? So maybe the attention was nice, but it was completely inappropriate! Axel just had no sense of shame. Roxas sighed, flopping down backwards onto his bed. Axel. What on earth had he gotten himself into when he picked that flea-bitten mutt off the street? Sure, the guy was kinda nice to be around when he wasn't being completely annoying, but that didn't mean Roxas approved of all the… _other _stuff. Argh, Roxas really didn't even want to _think_ about that part, and he pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes in an attempt to rid himself of the thoughts. But alas, it was no use – they had already firmly planted themselves in his brain and were refusing to be kicked out, laughing maniacally at his attempts to get rid of them. Fine then, he'd just have to face them head on.

So. What did he think of Axel? Well… the guy was a complete freak, and annoying as hell. What a great start. But… really, if Roxas thought about it… all the redhead had ever really done was dote affection and love on him, even if Roxas had no idea where it was all coming from, or why. And really, if he was forced to admit it to himself… Yes. He liked it. He liked it a lot, dammit, which was why he tried so hard to deny it. Because he _should_ think it was all wrong, right? He _should_ hate it, and be disgusted and freaked out, and kick Axel out of his house, out of his bed, out of his life. But whatever it was that he _should_ do, the fact of the matter was that he just _couldn't_. He'd grown stupidly attached to that redheaded freak, even if he did have a weird way of showing it. Roxas never had been too good at expressing his feelings when it came to the mushy stuff. Somehow his I-Kinda-Like-You's always got translated into Get-Away-From-Me's…

Before he could further delve down that path of thought, a resounding WHAM! came from the other side of his door, and as he jerked up and looked over, he saw it trembling on it's hinges. "What the hell?" he self-questioned, crossing the room and tentatively unlatching the door and pulling it open. Cautiously peeking out, he found a disgruntled looking Axel sitting cross-legged on the floor, massaging the side of his head and looking mighty ruffled. "Did you just throw yourself at my door?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow. Axel nodded, wrinkling his nose in pain.

"But it didn't open."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Yeah, good job, smart one, that's cause it was locked." He looked Axel over, trying to deny that the miffed redhead was looking rather adorably endearing at the moment. "And put some clothes on." He automatically tacked on for good measure.

Axel wobbled to his feet, stepping into the room and picking up a discarded pair of Roxas's boxer shorts, slipping them on and setting down on the edge of Roxas's bed. "I'm sorry." He mumbled, looking downcast. Roxas raised an eyebrow curiously. Usually Axel NEVER apologized for his little grope sessions. What gives?

"I didn't mean to make you mad at me." Axel continued. Roxas was giving a disbelieving look, and he realized how weird the situation must have been for the blonde. Usually Axel couldn't care less if Roxas threw a little fit and blushed and ran off when Axel tried to put the moves on him, but he had never actually locked Axel out before. It was scary, having the one person you cared about more than anything else in the whole world lock you out. It made Axel feel like Roxas was sending some subtle sign that he wanted Axel not only out of his room, but out of his life, and upon finding the door locked, Axel had immediately been overcome with the need to amend the situation before it got that drastic.

"It… it's okay." Roxas finally responded, having decided to accept that Axel was being sincere. "I just… it's really awkward when you do that, can't you understand?"

"…not really." Axel replied. "I love you and I want to make you feel good, I don't see how that's –."

"Okay stop." Roxas cut in with a furious blush. "I get it. I, um… yeah. Just… don't do it again."

"Ever!?" Axel burst, looking horrified and hurt at the very suggestion.

"Well… I… I don't know!" Roxas exclaimed in frustration. "Let's just… I'm hungry. Let's make food."

Axel realized that Roxas was changing the subject, but oddly enough he didn't mind. For one, he had just realized that he was rather hungry as well. Eating was one of his favourite things to do, and they hadn't had anything yet today.

And also… he couldn't help but notice that Roxas hadn't said no.

**.x.X.x.**

Axel didn't like being cooped up inside. He just _didn't_. Call it a result of living most of his life outside as a streetdog, call it a fidgety nature, call it whatever you wanted, but the fact of the matter was that Axel just couldn't tolerate being kept inside for more than an hour at a time, if that. Therefore, he found it most frustrating to discover that Roxas was the kind of kid who liked to coop himself up in his room all day (when he wasn't working, that was) and play video games and eat junk food until he passed out. Axel wanted to go outside. And _do things_. Heck, he'd settle for another _bath_ at this point, just to be _doing_ something. But Roxas would have none of it. It was his day off, and he was going to _rot his fucking mind out with video games and junk food, dammit_!

"Rooooooxas…" Axel had begged, falling across the blonde's lap. Roxas, for his part, merely grunted and shifted, trying to look past Axel's head of spikes to see the television screen. He elbowed Axel over a bit, un-trapping his arms to better work the video game controller.

"Rooooooooooxaaaaaaas." Axel had whined again. "There's still so much daaaay left. Let's doooooooo soooooomething."

"In a bit." Roxas had answered, sounding distracted; his eyes glazed over, images of cars, explosions, and snipers reflected in them. "After I finish this level."

And a little while later, Roxas _had_ finished the level. And then another one. And another one. And another one… And then he had started a new game. Axel had actually fallen asleep across his lap, so bored out of his mind that he had actually turned back into a dog. Hours passed, the sun set, streetlights came on… and only the glow of the television and the sounds of violence filled Axel's world…

"Axel… Axel… Wake up, Axel…"

'_Huhwhut?'_ Axel incoherently thought, abruptly sitting up. _'Whasgoingon?'_ Blinking and focusing his gaze, Axel found himself looking up into Roxas's slightly sheepish expression.

"Hey, Axel." Roxas greeted. "Um… sorry I spent all afternoon playing videogames instead of paying attention to you. I just… had a stressful week and stuff. I needed to blow stuff up."

'_Understandable.'_ Axel agreed in his mind.

"So… now that I'm done, I know it's dark, but did you maybe want to go for a walk?"

Oh man. _Oh_ man. Oh man oh man oh man oh man! Roxas had said it. He said _the word_. _'WALK!'_ Axel's brain screamed, nearly short-circuiting. _'ROXAS IS GOING TO TAKE ME FOR A WALK!' _Yelping happily and licking Roxas's face, Axel ran around in circles as Roxas stood up and fetched the leash. Roxas smiled and shook his head at Axel's antics, but when the fluffy red dog threw himself at Roxas, paws placed on his shoulders and tail wagging franticly, the blonde seemed to find it time for a light reprimand.

"Hey hey hey…" Roxas said, pushing Axel down onto all fours. "You gotta calm down, okay? We can't have you changing into a human in the middle of the walk. I know there's not a lot of people out here at this hour, but what would people think if they saw some kid lugging around a naked guy on a leash? And don't answer that question, I don't like the look in your eyes."

Axel doggie-laughed, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he looked up at Roxas in amusement. By the blush tinting Roxas's cheeks it was obvious that he knew _exactly_ what Axel was thinking of to say in response to that rhetorical question. Nevertheless, Axel allowed Roxas to tie the leash around his neck and lead him to the door. Once there the teen paused, looking down at Axel for a minute before telling him to "wait right here a minute" and running upstairs. Axel watched his retreating figure curiously, but stayed put like Roxas had told him to. A minute later Roxas was tromping back down the stairs, toting along a ragged old backpack. Axel tried sniffing at it, but couldn't smell anything out of the ordinary. It just smelled like Roxas's room. But before he could further dwell on it, Roxas was pulling him out the door and into the crisp night air.

It must have been very late, Axel didn't know _how_ late, but the pair didn't see a single other person out on the streets, and only one or two cars passed them as they walked in the direction of the park. It was a nice night; not particularly cold, but not unnaturally warm either. The moon was a crescent in the sky; its faint light illuminating whatever the streetlamps didn't. Axel breathed in deeply before letting it out as a sigh, turning to look at Roxas beside him. The kid was just looking straight ahead, a bland but somewhat content expression oh his face, and – feeling Axel's gaze on him – he turned to look down and regard his canine companion. A smile lit his features, and Axel wagged his tail happily as they entered the park, his heart feeling especially full. They headed over to a bench and Roxas sat down, patting the space beside him. Axel happily hopped up, licking the side of the blonde's face before lying down and settling his head in Roxas's lap. For a few minutes they just sat there, Roxas simply petting Axel, and Axel just content to lay there and enjoy it, when faint approaching footsteps could be heard. Roxas ceased the petting, and Axel lifted his head, both annoyed at the loss of contact and curious as to who was there.

"Hey, kid, what are you doing?"

A portly police officer rounded the corner, and Roxas stiffened. It wasn't as though he had been doing anything _wrong_ but when in the presence of authority figures even the most clean-record kid can get a guilty conscious.

"Uh, I was just taking my dog for a walk… sir." Roxas carefully replied, fiddling nervously with the leash in his hand. The cop gave him a reprimanding look.

"You are aware the park closes at ten o'clock?"

"I –" Roxas started. "No, actually I wasn't."

"Well it does." The uniformed man informed him. "And the current time is…" He looked at his watch. "11:35. So you'll have to be leaving."

"I, um, okay, sorry." Roxas mumbled, gathering the leash into his arms. "C'mon Axel, let's go." The dog jumped off the bench, giving a glare to the officer at the tone that the man was using with _his_ Roxas. As Roxas tugged Axel down the path, heading home, the police officer called out once more.

"That your dog, kid?"

Roxas turned around, a puzzled look on his face. "Um, yes?" He received a skeptical glare from the officer.

"You sure? That animal looks like a stray, and it doesn't even have a proper leash, collar or license."

Roxas possessively clutched Axel's leash-rope a little tighter. "He's mine. I… I just got him, though, so I haven't had time to get him any of that stuff yet. But I'm going to. Soon. Tomorrow, actually." The blonde received another skeptical look from the uniformed man at this, and nodded fervently to confirm the truth of his words. The police officer opened his mouth to say something once more, but Axel chose that moment to let out a low, threatening growl. A questioning and scolding eyebrow was raised, but before the cop could say anything Roxas was cutting him off with a nervous laugh.

"Hahaha ha… ha. Um, yeah, he's real friendly – _aren't you Axel_?" The last bit was a little strained, as Roxas desperately tried to get the message across to Axel that he had better shut his fuzzy yap and _behave_. Oh ho ho, commanding!Roxas. Axel ceased the growling, but only to please his sexy blonde. If it had been just up to him, he would have loved to keep growling at that fatty night guard of the park. "Uh, anyway, we'll just be leaving now, sorry to be here when we weren't supposed to."

And with that they were off, Roxas purposefully striding away, and Axel turning back to give a warning snap at the police officer. Because nothing says 'lay off my property' like good ol' clack of canines. "_Axel_!" Roxas hissed, tugging the leash forcefully and dragging Axel off at a run.

Suddenly, Axel felt very _alive_. He was going on adventures in the middle of the night with the love of his life, they had just had a run-in with the law, and now they were _running_ through the park. His heart started racing and a smile overtook his features, and with a violent lunge and a bark of joy, he found himself stumbling over long legs, having turned human once again in his excitement.

"Oh _what_!? AXEL!" Roxas shouted, looking around frantically before tackling Axel into a nearby bush. Axel smiled up at the boy sprawled across him, leaning up to give a playful lick to his cheek.

"Hi, Roxas."

"Axel…" Roxas groaned, wiping the back of his hand over his cheek. "What do you think you're _doing_? We're outside, in the middle of a public park, and that stupid cop is like… probably still lurking around here somewhere…" Axel shrugged, grinning apologetically. Roxas slapped a hand to his forehead. "God, I knew something like this would happen." He said, rolling slightly off of Axel and tugging his backpack off, rummaging around in it. "It's a good thing I thought ahead, you dolt."

Axel suddenly found fabric covering his face, and pulled it off to find that Roxas had tossed clothing at him. Both of them fumbled with getting it on him while still trying to keep out of sight in the bushes, and a minute later Axel was dressed in a random assortment of clothing that Roxas must have just gathered up at random, because none of it matched and everything fit him rather awkwardly. A hat was shoved oh his head at the last minute to cover his bizarre red spikes, and Axel grinned cheekily at Roxas, who just rolled his eyes in response. The blonde opened his mouth, about to say something, when footsteps were heard once again. With a gasp, Roxas reached out to slap a hand over both his own mouth and Axel's as well, going completely still. The footfall drew closer, and Roxas looked completely mortified at the situation. Axel attempted to give the hand covering his mouth a comforting lick, but from the look he received in response for it, he took it that it went unappreciated by Roxas.

The footsteps walked right past their hiding place, and only after they had faded away completely did Roxas heave a relieved sigh. "Oh my God." He whispered. "That was close."

"Mmm…" Axel murmured in agreement, rolling over on top of Roxas. All this danger and the slightly unusual setting was starting to excite him. Smiling crookedly, Axel offered a murmured "At least we didn't get caught…" before descending his lips upon Roxas's.

Spluttering indignantly, the blonde at first tried to push Axel off, but relented after it became apparent that Axel wasn't willing to be moved anytime soon. Sighing into the mix of lips, Roxas allowed the onslaught, and even reciprocated the smallest bit, pressing his lips back up to Axel's and joining in the movement. He had to admit… there was something about doing this in a public place, the danger of getting caught, and the thrill of being reckless that made the whole experience very… heightened.

Axel smirked as he felt Roxas give in. Moving his arm, Axel managed to wrap his hand around the back of Roxas's neck, cradling the back of the blonde's head and gently holding him in place, deepening their exchange. Roxas let out a small sound – Axel couldn't quite tell if it was in protest or approval – and wrapped one of his own arms around Axel's shoulders, pulling the older male down. '_Must have been approval then…_' Axel reasoned, gently pulling at Roxas's bottom lip with his teeth. He situated himself more fully over Roxas, and although the smaller boy huffed a little under the additional weight, he made no move to push Axel off again. A nearby park lamp flickered, drawing them both back to the reality of the when and where of the situation, and although Axel feared it would snap Roxas out of it, the realization only seemed to spur him on more. Axel smirked, pulling away from Roxas's lips to sink his teeth gently into the boy's neck, and the blonde actually arched up into him. Axel wasn't quite sure what had gotten into the blonde, but he sure as hell planned on taking full advantage of the situation while it presented itself.

Roxas, for his part, couldn't believe what was happening. This was wrong, this whole thing was just so wrong, but he was willingly allowing it. Axel was chewing on his neck in the middle of the night in the middle of a public park and they could be discovered any minute… and Roxas was enjoying every second of it. As Axel began sneaking one of his hands up Roxas's shirt, the blonde surprised himself by doing absolutely nothing about it. Nothing, _negative_ at least. Rather, he pressed himself into the touch, sighing at the feeling. This was so good but so… wrong. He shouldn't be doing it. Any of this. He just _shouldn't_. It was so very, very… _wrong_. And yet Roxas couldn't help himself from eagerly responding to every touch, every kiss, every nip, every shift of Axel moving on top of him. For as wrong as it all seemed in his head… it just _felt_ so right. He didn't want it to stop, not for anything.

"Axel…" He pleaded as Axel sucked on his throat, laving at the skin with his sweeping tongue. "Axel please don't… don't stop... Okay, actually… okay, stop. _Stop_, stop, Axel STOP." Axel paused, his hand having snuck halfway into Roxas's pants, and gave his until-a-moment-ago willing partner a confused expression.

"What?"

The gravity of the situation at hand suddenly sunk in for Roxas, and his face flushed in embarrassment. Axel's hand working its way past his waistband had been like a wake-up call. Had he _really_ been willing have sex in the bushes in a park? In _public_, for crying out loud?

"Axel… Axel we can't do this here." Roxas told him, averting his gaze.

"Whaaaat?" Axel whined. "Oh come _on_, Roxas, you _want_ it." He said, pushing his hips down to draw attention to the physical proof of this statement and make his point. Roxas's blush darkened and he squirmed uncomfortably.

"I… okay, maybe I do. _Maybe_. But… we can't do it here. It's just… we _can't_."

"So let's go _home_." Axel urged, the same way he had on several other occasions in the past. "We can do it _there_. In your _bed_."

"Axel!" Roxas chided, a bit embarrassed by Axel's straightforwardness. "We can't… it doesn't work that way, alright? By the time we'd get home it would be awkward, and it would be weird, and it would be… just… awkward. We can't do it like that, okay? If we ever do it at all."

"Urrrrrrrgggghhhh…" Axel groaned, dropping his face into Roxas's chest in frustration. So many times he had come _so close_, and he had been foiled every time. He was starting to wonder if Roxas was _ever_ going to let down all of those defensive walls that he put up around himself. It wasn't just about "doing it" for Axel, although that would be nice too – he wanted to get past Roxas's walls to prove his love, to really _connect_ with the blonde. But dammit, Roxas just wouldn't let him.

Roxas heaved another long sigh, gently pushing at Axel's shoulder. Understanding what Roxas wanted, Axel pushed himself up and off the smaller boy, offering a hand up, which Roxas accepted. Dusting themselves off, and gathering up the backpack and rope leash, Axel and Roxas headed back home, each lost in his own thoughts. Neither said a word, but about halfway home Axel tentatively reached out for Roxas's hand, and Roxas let him hold it.

Just as Roxas had predicted, things were a little awkward when they finally got home. The "heat of the moment" had work off, leaving an uncomfortable 'so… what do we do now?' hanging in the air. Both tried to force casualness, but there was an unmistakable tension so thick it was almost corporeal. "I'm going to bed" Roxas announced, shucking off his day clothes in favour of some loose pajama pants and a t-shirt and collapsing into the mattress. Axel sighed, following suit by stripping down to his (or rather, _Roxas's_) boxers and clambering in after the blonde. Roxas was softly snuffling in sleep within a few moments, but Axel didn't find slumber so easily.

**.x.X.x.**

Roxas wasn't sure what was going on, but he found himself in a pleasant, fuzzy haze. Everything was very warm and snug, and Roxas found the whole situation to be incredibly comfortable indeed. Very slowly, more sensations started to filter in, and things started feeling a lot more… real. The first thing Roxas noticed what that it seemed to be rather dark out. So then, he must be drifting in and out of sleep. That wasn't so weird. He would have been able to simply shrug it off and fall back into dreamland if it hadn't been for the fact that something else was tugging at his subconscious. He felt a pressure, some sort of contact, and the nagging feeling that something was out of place from when he was usually half-conscious in his bed late at night.

Shifting a little, and making some unintelligible noises, Roxas lifted his head, blinking into the darkness and trying to figure out what was going on. It took him a minute, but when he finally placed it, he wasn't quite sure what to do.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Roxas could see that Axel was awake, propped up on one elbow and looking down at him. The older teen's other arm was stretched out down Roxas's side, Axel's palm rubbing slow, soothing circles on his stomach. It was rather random, but it actually felt really nice, very soothing and pleasant, and Roxas found himself dropping his head back to his pillow, bringing a fist up to his face to rub his eye.

"Axel, what are you doing?" he asked, voice a little thick with sleep. "It's gotta be like three in the morning."

"…nothing." Axel replied after a moment. "Just… looking at you while you're asleep. Touching you."

Roxas sighed. "Axel, if it were anyone but you who said that I would be so creeped out right about now."

"Sorry." Axel replied, leaning forward and dropping a kiss to Roxas's neck.

"S'okay." Roxas told him, still not fully awake yet. Axel continued his minstrations, kissing a trail down Roxas's neck and slipping his hand underneath Roxas's shirt to more effectively rub circles on Roxas's stomach. The blonde sighed. That felt _really_ good. The tender gesture spread a warmth through his entire body, and occasionally Axel would press the heel of his palm to the flat plane of Roxas's stomach beneath his navel, and it spread a whole _different_ kind of feeling through him, one that was still of warmth, but heavier, and with more tingles intermixed with it, a feeling of anticipation and growing excitement. It created a much welcomed and very pleasant pressure, and the gentle touch of Axel's lips to Roxas's neck only served to accentuate it.

"Axel…" Roxas sighed as the redhead's hands worked further up to his chest. "What are you doing? Really?"

"Loving you."

Roxas didn't quite know what to say back to that but Axel didn't seem to expect a reply. The taller male worked at getting his hand further and further up Roxas's shirt, but it started to get tangled and bunched up, frustrating him to no end. "Hey Roxas…" he began, sounding a bit unsure of himself. "Can I take your shirt off?"

Roxas's heart started racing. Was this going in the direction he thought it was going? Did he have any objections to it going there, if that was indeed where it was going? "Uh…" he started, but found that he didn't know what to say. He nodded a second later, however, giving his consent, and Axel eagerly took him up on it, grabbing the loose shirt by the bottom hem and tugging it up and over the blonde's head and tossing it aside. Roxas swallowed thickly, deciding in his head that this definitely _was_ going where he had thought it might be.

Before he could further dwell on the direction their interactions were heading in, Roxas found Axel moving to lay on top of him, their bare chests bumping together as Axel lowered himself over the smaller boy. Roxas's breathing picked up, and he fumbled with words and thoughts in his head. Everything seemed to be going too fast… but at the same time it was as if every single moment was being played in slow-motion, so attentive were Roxas's observations of the goings-on. Axel must have picked up on Roxas's inner dilemmas with some sort of sixth sense, because he leveled his face with Roxas's, bumping their noses together.

"Hey, are you alright?" he murmured. "You don't even seem properly awake."

Roxas shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Axel was right, everything seemed rather dreamlike, and it was a little unsettling. "I… I'm okay, I just…"

Axel sighed and lightly jabbed Roxas in the side. It was an offhand gesture, not meant for anything more than a thoughtless poke, but when Roxas jerked and tried to squirm away a devious smile overtook Axel's features. A sudden means to get Roxas awake and possibly squeeze in a few good gropes at the same time had just presented itself. "You ticklish, Roxie?"

The blonde's eyes went wide and he suddenly felt at least ten times more awake. "No! No, Axel, I am not ticklish, so don't you even dare – AXEL!"

With a sudden onslaught of rapidly moving fingers, Axel attacked the blonde's sides. The atmosphere in the room abruptly changed from slightly muggy and confusing and just a wee bit tense, to one of outright attack. Friendly attack, but attack nonetheless. Laughter, broken by gasps and pleas for a cease and desist, burst from Roxas's mouth, and Axel was pretty sure he had never head anything nicer.

"A – Axel! Oh my – HAHAHAHA – Oh my God! Stop! I cant – AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA – I can't TAKE it!" Roxas gasped as he writhed beneath the older male. Axel grinned wickedly, attacking the blonde's sides with renewed vigour.

"You gotta tell me I'm the best thing since snickerdoodles before I'll let up." He taunted.

"What the – HAHAHA – _hell_, Axel? That's ridiculous! AHAHAHA!" Roxas managed, thrashing helplessly underneath the redhead.

"Well too bad, that's how it's gotta be." Axel snerked, mercilessly attacking Roxas's sides.

Roxas, however, refused to give in, and a slight tussle ensued, one that sent both of them nearly toppling off of the bed on more than one occasion. The whole situation was ridiculous given the hour of the night, but they were having fun and that was really all that mattered. Axel used his advantage in size to gain the upper hand, but Roxas was able to use his size as an advantage as well, being small enough to occasionally slip out from Axel's clutches. Every time, though, he was hauled back and the tickling resumed until Roxas almost couldn't take it anymore. But he certainly wasn't going to cave in and say whatever stupid thing Axel had told him to, oh no. It was time to bring out the big guns.

Employing a tactic he had been using for years, ever since he was a little kid, Roxas gave a sudden, violent thrust of hips in an attempt to buck Axel off of him. Axel looked like he had gone into a state of utter shock for a moment and actually let go of the blonde, but when he realized what Roxas's game was he quickly worked at pinning the smaller boy before he could make his escape. The game shifted from a tickle fight to a mini-wrestling match of sorts, with Axel bodily sprawled across Roxas, holding him down, while the younger boy made desperate attempts to throw him off.

"Axel, you fatty!" Roxas gasped, thrashing wildly. "Get off, you're crushing me!"

"Ah ah ah, not until you say the magic words!" Axel scolded, wagging a finger in Roxas's face rather annoyingly.

"Magic words my ass!" Roxas laughed, before bucking up again.

Suddenly the game came to an abrupt, screeching halt.

Any and all previous thrashing on Roxas's part had been purely made as a means to escape, and had been taken as such. This time however… this time there was a clashing of hips, fitting perfectly together, and Axel went incredibly still and closed his eyes, hissing in a breath and squeezing his hands around Roxas's wrists. Roxas's eyes went wide, suddenly becoming acutely aware of how much Axel was enjoying their little tussle. Roxas coughed awkwardly.

"Um… sorry."

Axel took a deep breath, seeming to try and control himself.

He failed.

"I'm not." He whispered back, and in the next instant he was clashing his lips with Roxas's, hand weaving into the boy's hair and tugging his head back for better access. Roxas was a bit taken aback at the abruptness, but easily enough went along with things. Making out with Axel wasn't _unpleasant_, per se, it was just always… unexpected. Roxas would have thought he'd have gotten used to the guy trying to shove his tongue down his throat every five minutes, but apparently he hadn't yet.

Axel suddenly drew Roxas out of his wandering thoughts by pressing his hips down insistently against Roxas's. Oh. Okay. That was new. And not altogether unpleasant, either. Roxas gasped, breaking away from the kiss and instinctually pressing himself back up against the older boy, bringing his arms up to encircle Axel's shoulders, clutching desperately. With a low growl, Axel bit down at Roxas's juncture of neck and shoulder, grinding his hips down once again.

'_That…'_ Roxas's brain decided _'is really, REALLY nice.'_ Breath hitching, Roxas tossed his head back as Axel ran his hands up the boy's sides, stroking the expanse of bare skin and sliding his palms over Roxas's chest. The blonde nearly lurched out of his skin as Axel's hands ran over a nipple, and he had to choke back a strangled, very embarrassing noise. He felt Axel smirk into his neck and repeat the motion, this time going to far as to use his fingers to toy with it. Roxas was a guy. As such, he had never really paid much attention to that particular aspect of his anatomy. It had always seemed rather… useless. Superfluous. But now, with Axel paying so much attention to it… Roxas was blown away (and slightly embarrassed) at how _good_ it felt. Axel chose that moment to once again bite down on his neck, and this time Roxas couldn't help the sound of enjoyment that spilled from his lips. Roxas was a bit humiliated at making such a noise, but it soon didn't seem to matter as he lost his thoughts to Axel's more fervent explorations of his body. Oh. So it seemed as those sorts of noises were not only acceptable, but _appreciated_.

Axel, in fact, seemed to be quite _more_ than just appreciative, if his erratic breathing and growing enthusiasm was any sign of how he felt. It seemed to get them stuck in a vicious cycle – Axel diligently extracting pleasure from Roxas, Roxas unable to contain some of the sounds he made in response to said minstrations, Axel, as a result, increasing the enthusiasm he was putting to use on Roxas… it just went round and round. Letting out a shuddering breath as Axel rubbed slow circles into Roxas's hipbone with his thumb, Roxas tried to make sense of what they were doing… In all honestly, he hadn't known Axel for all that long. He'd spent most of his time with the redhead being immensely confused and/or frustrated. But at the same time… it seemed as though they had been working up to this all along, from the very first moment Axel had told Roxas he loved him, all that time ago. And to be honest… maybe Roxas liked Axel back a little. …Okay, maybe he liked Axel back a _lot._ It was hard not to when the guy was so devoted to him, and fun to be around, and… and doing _that_ with his tongue.

"A-ah…Axel…" Roxas panted as said redhead laved his tongue down Roxas's chest, swirling patterns into the skin.

"Yes?" Axel questioned back with a knowing smirk.

"I… I, um…" Roxas tried, attempting to keep his composure. "Axel, I…" Axel chose that moment to place his hand not playing with Roxas's hipbone to the front of Roxas's pajama pants – which were growing a little taught – and press down, applying delicious pressure. "FUCK!" Roxas swore, effectively loosing any and all remaining composure he might have possessed up until that point, deciding to just let go. "Axel _please_!"

Axel wasn't sure if Roxas even knew what he was pleading for, but the redhead definitely planned on giving it to him. As soon as possible. Continuing his downward trail of licking and nipping, Axel scooted down further on the bed, kissing Roxas's trembling stomach, rubbing up and down his side reassuringly with the hand that had previously been stimulating his hipbone. Whispers of Axel's name fell from Roxas's lips, and Axel once more pressed down with his _other_ hand, the one that still lay over Roxas's forming arousal. A loud gasp followed this action, and Axel was pleased with himself. Roxas was completely wanton by this point, not thinking of anything other than the pleasure the older male was so willingly doting upon him. Which was just the way Axel wanted it. No interruptions, no half-hearted attempts at getting out of anything, just him and Roxas. Together. The way it was supposed to be.

Nipping at the skin just to the side of Roxas's navel and drawing out a gasp from the blonde, Axel moved downwards still, pulling a bit at the hem of Roxas's drawstring pants. A breathless, questioning "Axel?" responded to the action, and in answer Axel's lips descended to the sensitive indentation of Roxas's hip. Another gasp of his name turned into a drawn out moan when Axel gently bit down on a nap of flesh, sucking fervently at the tender skin. Axel could feel Roxas writhing slightly, clutching at the sheets for lack of knowing what else to do with the situation. At this Axel smiled, placing long, open-mouthed kisses on the area he was working on, suckling tenderly. After a minute more of the sweet torture he let up, pulling back and observing his handiwork. A large red mark was left on Roxas's otherwise flawless skin, and Axel was sure the blonde would throw a fit about it in the morning, embarrassed to be marked. But Axel rather liked it, so even weighing the consequences it was worth it.

Looking back up to Roxas, whose eyes were still scrunched shut, mouth hanging open as he panted, Axel felt a sudden rush of affection, and hauled himself back up the bed to lay on top of Roxas once more, running long fingers through blonde hair and smiling when normally bright blue eyes, now slightly clouded over with lust, blinked open to look directly into his.

"Hey." He whispered, stroking Roxas's cheek.

"H-hey." Roxas answered, said cheek becoming dusted with a blush when he felt the evidence of Axel's current state of arousal pushing right up against his own. Leaning up, Roxas pressed his lips to Axel's own, opening his mouth to run his tongue along the crease of the older boy's lips. Axel overeagerly parted them, allowing Roxas's tongue to delve into his mouth, thrilled that the younger male had initiated the kiss. It was the first time he had ever done so, and Axel's heart swelled with emotion. So Roxas _did_ like him back after all. Well alright then. All was right in the world.

Snaking his hand back down Roxas's side, Axel scooted over a bit on top of Roxas to allow room for massaging the boy's more…sensitive areas of his anatomy. Roxas let out a sharp moan into the kiss, arching up against Axel's hand and wrapping his arms around the taller boy's shoulders, digging the pads of his fingers into Axel's back. Groaning appreciatively, Axel gave a few more squeezes – delighting in the way Roxas got so worked up over each and every one – before taking his hand away. Roxas let out a slight whimper of disappointment against Axel's lips, but it soon turned into a gasp as Axel replaced his hand with his hips, sliding a leg in between Roxas's thighs and coaxing the younger boy to spread them. Which he did, quite willingly. Rocking forward and pushing his knee up between Roxas's thighs, Axel got Roxas to nearly _sob_ into their still ongoing kiss, and he assumed Roxas had never been this… _involved_ with someone else before. Well good, all the more for him to stake full claim on.

Indulging Roxas in the liplock and hip rocking for another minute or so, Axel eventually pulled away, placing one last kiss to the boy's lips before backing down the bed once more, getting back to where he left off. Roxas shakily propped himself up on his elbows, looking down at what Axel was doing. Pulling the hem of Roxas's pants down even further, he locked eyes with the blonde, slowly tugging the fabric away from his Roxas's body. When it got stuck around the younger boy's hips, Roxas's obligingly raised them, allowing Axel to effectively get them the rest of the way off. Axel swallowed thickly, not yet looking down at Roxas, who was now fully de-clothed. He suddenly felt almost… almost nervous. This was it. The moment he had been waiting for, dreaming of for what seemed like forever. As ridiculous as it seemed, Axel was almost afraid that if he looked down he would be broken out of some really, _really_ good dream…

"Axel?"

Snapping back to the reality of the moment, he turned his attention back to Roxas, who was looking at him questioningly. Axel smirk reassuringly at him, licking his lips before lowering his gaze to the entirety of Roxas's body, taking in the vast expanse of skin that was finally being revealed to him. Roaming his eyes over Roxas's perfect flesh, Axel felt his throat constrict at how utterly _perfect_ the boy was. Wouldn't he love to just run his tongue across all of that pure, inviting skin…

Placing his mouth to the inside of Roxas's thigh, Axel swept his tongue up in a long, drawn out sweep, elicting a shudder and a strangled moan from the blonde. Axel continued with a few more laps over the boy's flesh, moving closer and closer to his goal. Distracting Roxas with a nip to his hipbone, Axel reached a hand out, firmly encircling the base of Roxas's straining erection. With a strained groan, Roxas thrust up, and Axel placed a hand over the blonde's hips, holding him down and scooting over a fraction, enough to give a tentative lick. As predicted, Roxas tried to buck up again, harder than before, but was effectively held down.

"Axel!" Roxas gasped, voice strained. "Axel, _please_!" Figuring he had teased the smaller boy long enough, Axel ran his tongue over sensitive flesh once more before taking a deep breath and…

"**A-AXEL!" **

After that things started to swirl together in Roxas's hazy, lust-addled mind. There was so much slick skin, so much suction, so much friction, so much pressure… Roxas could barely take it all in. Axel's mouth was on him, all around him, engulfing him, and it made his head swim. Jolts and tremors ran through his body and then Axel was pulling away, and Roxas was sure he'd never felt such _loss_ before. But then the touching was back, different this time, and a little unsettling at first. Roxas wasn't sure what to make of it… Axel's hands and fingers were pressing, searching, _inside_ of him, and it all felt so foreign but Axel was whispering hushed reassurances – "it's okay… just relax… you'll be fine… trust me" – so Roxas gave in and went with it. But it was weird at first, and hurt a little bit. He'd never felt such intense _pressure_, such _fullness_ before, and it caused minor discomfort, but due to Axel's dutiful preparation it wasn't that bad. But still weird.

But then it got better again. Axel was _moving_ and _touching_, and pressing in _just right_, and _oh, that was it, hit that spot again_… They fell into a rhythm, pushing and pulling and trying to get closer and closer until there just wasn't any closer they could get and still be two separate beings. Roxas was lost, arching up into Axel, and to him it _felt_ like they weren't separate anymore, they were connected so deeply that there was no _just_ Axel or _just_ Roxas. They were two halves of a whole, finally fitted together.

They reached a frantic end, Axel growling and pushing deep as Roxas arched back into him, fisting the bedsheets and calling out the redhead's name, triggering Axel's own climax. Collapsing onto Roxas, Axel and the blonde fell into a tangle of limbs and sticky skin, breath coming in harsh pants and gasps as they recovered. Pulling out of Roxas after a moment, and rolling slightly off of him so as to not crush the smaller boy, Axel grabbed a sheet and did his best to wipe the worst of the mess off of both himself and the blonde. Roxas vaguely mumbled something into his pillow, turning over with a slight wince and wrapping his arms around the redhead, nuzzling his face into the crook of Axel's neck.

"You okay, Roxas?" Axel asked, dropping a kiss to the boy's forehead and wiping some of his damp, blonde locks out of his face. His heart felt so unbelievably _full_, and a feeling of absolute contentment washed over him. He was happy. Completely, one hundred percent happy, to the point where he didn't think any other emotion could have squeezed itself in even if it tried. But as happy and complete as he felt, he also knew he had a duty to inquire after Roxas's own well-being. "I didn't hurt you or anything?"Roxas gave an exasperated sigh in response.

"I'm _fine_, Axel. Stop treating me like a girl." In all actuality, Roxas was feeling extremely exhausted, and more than a little sore, but it wasn't anything important enough that it was worth mentioning to Axel. The guy would go all 'alpha male protective' over him and fuss over his well being. It was sweet, but a little annoying, Roxas thought endearingly.

"Only asking because I love you." Axel murmured vaguely in response, his head falling to the pillow beside Roxas's own and sounding like he was drifting off into sleep. Roxas couldn't blame him. He was feeling completely and utterly spent, himself.

It didn't take long for Axel to drop off into sleep, but it took Roxas a minute longer, his mind doing some last minute analyzing. The whole situation was weird, and new, and unlike anything he had ever imagined or expected for himself. But… it made him happy. _Axel_ made him happy. Somehow that damn annoying redhead had shoved his way into his life, and his home, and his heart… And Roxas wouldn't have wanted it any other way. He reflected over the redhead's last words before sleep had claimed him, and it was with a small smile that Roxas finally gave into sleep, himself. Axel loved him. He'd said so, he'd _showed_ so, so many times before, but Roxas had been hesitant to trust that the feelings were real.

But finally Roxas believed him.

"Goodnight, Axel." He drowsily murmured, cuddling up to the redhead's pliant body and settling in for the night. "I love you too."

**.o.O.o.**

**The End!**

Yay, I hope everyone liked it! I'm so glad to finally have this story finished, I've been working on it for quite some time. Gyar… Anyways! Thank you for reading, and _especially_ for reviewing! I love all you guys!

And as a special treat, here's a picture I drew of the Axel!dog (just take out the spaces, you smart people XD ) http / www . deviantart . com / deviation / 50015666 /

…and here's one of them as peoples, being all cuddly and whatnot! http / www . deviantart . com / deviation / 41465267 /

**See you next fic! X3**


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